how to place the cursor in the field of a subform

[Douglas J. Steele]

Okay, that makes sense. Sorry about that (I didn't bother testing).

Change the BeforeUpdate to

Private Sub PayDate_BeforeUpdate(Cancel As Integer)

If IsDate(Nz(Me.PayDate, "X") = False Then
Cancel = True
End If

End Sub

Change focus in the AfterUpdate event:

Private Sub PayDate_AfterUpdate()

Me!NameOfSubformControl.SetFocus
Me!NameOfSubformControl.Form!NameOfControlOnSubform.SetFocus

End Sub