Email offers a quick and convenient way to communicate. In fact, for some co-parents, email is a more effective means of communication than talking over the phone or in person. It is often shorter and allows you to communicate your point of view clearly without having to immediately defend your position or rebut an argument. However, the same things that make email convenient for co-parents can also make it a dangerous form of communication.
Because email becomes a permanent record of your thoughts, you should never send an email to your co-parent that you would not want anyone else to see. Stay away from the use of harsh, abusive, or derogatory language in all of your email communication.
At the same time, if you should receive an email from your co-parent that is inappropriate or illustrates a point you have been trying to make about his or her character or intentions, then you should make plans to share that email with your lawyer and perhaps, eventually, with the court.
Guidelines to keep in mind when you document email communication:
- Do not cut-and-paste the email message into a word processing document.
- Instead, always leave the original email on the server.
- Do this even if you choose to print out the email.
- To leave it on the server, save the email once you have read it.
- Consider creating a file folder within your e-mail for storing such messages.
- If you are concerned that someone else may have access to your computer, make sure that you back up your files appropriately.
- If you are using an email software program such as Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird, or Windows Mail, make sure that you leave a copy of your email on the original mail server.
- In addition, if you use Outlook, consider purchasing Adobe Acrobat software, which will allow you to convert individual folders of emails into a document, which you can later sort by date or by sender.
- Compare prices for Adobe Acrobat
- Compare prices for Outlook
