Reporting

• Author: Nicholas L. Bourdeau
• Pages: 209-218

13-1

13-1

Chapter 13

Reporting

TABLE OF CONTENTS

§13:00 WRITTEN REPORTS

§13:00.1 Battle Lines

§13:10 SUPPORTING SCHEDULES

§13:20 ERRORS

§13:30 QUALIFICATIONS - CURRICULUM VITAE (CV)

§13:40 TESTIMONY

§13:00 WRITTEN REPORTS

In any type of writing, the key is to know your

audience. In child support cases, the audience is

varied. It may consist of attorneys and judges who

are highly educated, but it may also be the parents

in the action who may not be. Therefore, the rule

of thumb is to not exceed the level of a senior in

high school. However, the circumstances of the

case may dictate the level of writing that is used.

For example, an investigator may discover that

one of the parents in an action is not educated and

has problems understanding normal written com-

munication. Investigators know that it is impor-

tant for parents to understand the results of their

investigations. Investigators know that if parents

understand, they are more likely to agree to find-

ings and more likely to comply with assessed child

support. Therefore, in those cases, the investigator

may make considerable effort to insure that the

parent understands the issues.

Written reports can take various forms. They

can simply be a one line statement providing the

amount of child support due. Or they can be com-

plete reports addressing all of the issues and steps

that were taken during an investigation. However,

the time and attention spans of judges are limited.

They normally have extensive case loads and real-

ly don’t have the time to read all about the steps

that were taken in an investigation. Therefore,

investigators may consider that the judge needs to

get the information necessary to make a decision

as quickly and plainly as possible. The accompa-

nying example is a summary report. It does not

outline all of the steps in the investigation. It does

not address the cooperation or lack of cooperation

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