Legal Question in Family Law in Utah

My Ex-Wife and I where divorced several years ago, at that time I owned a company and was making very good money. I agreed to pay a high rate of child support and spousal support at the time of the divorce. Since then I sold my company and went to work for a company in the same industry. I asked my Ex to lower my support obligation and she refused so I hired an attorney and took her to court. I won and the judge agreed with me that she should have volunteered to lower the support when she was told that I was not making that kind of money anymore and he backdated the child support and spousal support to the date that I filed the patition to modify. Both supports were lowered substantially which left her owing me a considerable amount of money. Support inforcement is handling the support situation, having me pay a small amount every month and crediting me with the remainder untill she has paid me back in full.

During the several year period that I was trying to get her into court, support inforcement was taking half of my paycheck, leaving me with little to live with. I lost my house, car, etc. during that time and my credit was destroyed. As a result of paying so much to her in support I was unable to pay Half of Daycare (not part of the original order, just a request by her), nor was I able to pay for half of their medical expenses (part of the original order).

So here is where my question comes in, the judge passed his decision on Sept. 16, 2008 but, for reasons that I am not privy to, the order was not finished or signed until May 11, 2009. In the modified order I agreed to pay half of daycare and that was entered into the agreement, however, in the section for child support the first sentance states that child support is backdated to June of 2007. The same sentance heads the section for spousal support. No other section of the order has this statement. The new order also allows me to claim one of my boys on my taxes as long as I am current on my support obligations. Support inforcement says that according to them, I am completely current on my support and I can get a letter from them stating such. I have proof of payment for daycare from June until now showing that, from the time of the order until now, I am current. My Ex is stating that I am not allowed to claim my son on my taxes because I owe her half of daycare back to June of 2007. In the section of the order about daycare it does not say that this section of the order is backdated. Her arguement is that her attorney told her that if a section of the order is backdated, the entire order is backdated, I don't believe that. So that is part one of my question. If 2 sections of the order are backdated and clearly state, in each section, that this section is backdated, does that make the entire document backdated? (A note: Her attorney has contacted my attorney several times in the past about a number of disagreements, she has not contacted him, nor me on this one, so I do not believe that my ex has actually asked her attorney)

The second part of my question has to do with the signing of the document. I know that I may owe her half of the daycare cost from the date the judge made his decision until it was signed (a period of 9 months) but I am not sure. When does the judges order take affect, at the time he made his decision (Sept 17, 2008) or the date the order was signed by the judge (May 11, 2009)?

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