You want that Journalized?

I got extra sleep before this week's hearing and luckily I was able to think on my feet, despite the high stress of my son's visitation being on the line.

I fired a lawyer for screwing up a journalization which caused a verbal visitation agreement to be cut in half. So its odd that I had the exact opposite situation this week.

The magistrate observed and warned my ex that she was in violation of court ordered visitation. We made a compromise agreement for (reduced) visitation as I respond to her "concerns". Her lawyer asked for a visitation journalization form to protect "me" in case my ex reneged on even this reduced visitation.

First my docket is long enough and I don't need more entries in it. But there's a bigger reason, why document a reduced interim visitation schedule that could supersede my existing visitation order?

So I said that her lawyer's hand written notes of the interim agreement would be acceptable and asked her for them. This had the following advantages:

• Legally my existing visitation order is still in force
• The Magistrate viewed me positively as being cooperative and flexible
• I have the lawyer's handwritten notes as proof of our interim agreement
  
• The magistrate would view my ex reneging on the agreement negatively so its unlikely I need the "protection" of it being journalized

The rule has always been "get it in writing" and for the most part that is true, but remember that there is always an exception to the rule. And I think this is one of them.