If you have ever had to drive and pick-up or drop off a child from the other parent only to find they aren’t there, you know how upsetting it can be. To make matters worse they probably accused you of something like not showing up or abandoning the child in an effort to take the spotlight off of them.

Of course if they are continually trying your patience with exchanges, then they are undoubtedly pulling lots of other shenanigans. So not only do you need to worry about them showing up for visitation, you have a lot of other things going on too. So how do you make it stop?

Generally in this type of situation an honest parent can see that this issue would look like a he said she said type of argument to the court. They hold out little hope that their pain can be cured. But what it there was more proof that it was one sided and not just back and forth. How do you get proof? You need to think outside the box. You need a neutral 3rd party to verify you were there when you said you were. The best evidence is a receipt. That is correct. Get a receipt from a local store with their address, date, and time stamped on it. Use your ATM card so that it must be from you.

Now you begin to keep records of where you were and when you were there. You show that you have a history of being there and that the other party has a history of creating a problem. Do not bother telling the other party you have receipts until you are ready to file a motion. Include the allegations from the other party that show they are creating a problem, then show your receipts. Let them explain to the court why they are accusing you but your receipts show a different story.

Now you can take this idea and apply it to other problems that they are creating. Keep records of when they call email or text, and what was said. No need to let them know what you are doing until you use their words against them. Hey, if they weren’t causing a problem, they wouldn’t be getting in trouble.