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Digitized files in child custody division in Chattanooga

Tennessee couples going through a dissolution of their marriage understand that paying attention to details and paperwork is important. The divorce process can require a lot of time and decision-making. When children are involved in the process, this often means deciding factors such as child custody and child support. If a parent is seeking sole custody, they need to file the appropriate paperwork to ensure that the child’s non-custodial parent pays for their financial needs.

The County Juvenile Court clerks in Chattanooga have described their situation as drowning in paper. Currently, the division is dealing with court files that are bulging with paperwork. Their solution is a mass document-scanning project that will take all the paperwork in these files and digitize them. This means that more than 25,000 records between Juvenile Court and the division for child support will be scanned.

When this project is completed, attorneys and judges will be able to easily access documents and files. Furthermore, clerks in the child support division will be able to post payments immediately. This will reduce and hopefully end the need to track files. It was reported that files have been lost in the shuffle even though they sought to keep the records in alphabetical order. This project will eliminate the need to hunt down files and will reduce the chances of paperwork being lost in bulging files.

Technology, when applied to child support, can help those that are seeking payment when there are delinquent child support payments. It will allow the courts to quickly access their information, locate the parent and apply any pending payments. This could also help reduce any disputes about child support and sort out any issues that could result in serious penalties for delinquent payments.

When it comes to child support, it is best to consider the best interest of the child. Their financial needs need to be covered but it is also good to reduce the impact that any disputes relating to child support could cause.

Source: The Republic, “Hamilton County Juvenile Court going electronic, no longer ‘drowning in paper,” Todd South, Sept. 29, 2013

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