If you’re new to co-parenting, or perhaps are looking for new ways to approach this complicated relationship dynamic, you may find that communication methods often pose a difficult hurdle. What if a parent isn’t keeping up with their messages across multiple platforms? What if a message about a critical date gets buried underneath a pile of other messages? What if one parent swears the message never came through?
Communicating through texts, emails, or social media can create problems in co-parenting relationships, which is why co-parenting apps can be a great resource for co-parents who are trying to find more efficient and reliable ways to communicate and manage parental responsibilities from separate households. Through one platform, you have secure messaging across all devices, and any time a parent posts a new message, the other parent is notified.
Why Use an App?
For many, apps are now a part of everyday life. They make our lives easier and less stressful, and we regularly use them to communicate with friends and family through social networks, to listen to music, to watch videos, and to manage our finances.
These days, apps can also be used for one of the most important jobs– sharing the duties of raising a child with another adult.
Why Use an App Specifically for Co-Parenting?
While there are many tools available for separated and divorced parents, it’s important to understand the true value of co-parenting apps, specifically. Co-parenting apps help parents with joint custody communicate better when it comes to raising their children. These apps make it possible to share parenting responsibilities and information in a secure, neutral environment.
Many family courts and professionals recommend co-parenting communication apps or services for families to mediate their conversations and create accountability for parents with joint custody. Co-parenting is not always an easy process, but a co-parenting app can help keep both parents accountable and make communication simpler, allowing you to focus on what really matters: the well-being of your children. Having access to all messages in one place prevents co-parents from having to jump between multiple platforms to keep track of communications.
Can They Help a Parent Stay Organized?
Another essential feature of a co-parenting app is a shared calendar. You and your co-parent can use a shared calendar to note and coordinate important dates and events—these may include doctors appointments, sports practices, pick-up and drop-off times, and much more. A shared calendar is also used to track parenting time, schedule parenting time, and more. A synced, shared calendar makes it much easier to record and keep track of your child’s schedule, reducing the odds of miscommunication and the resulting frustration that may be born from that.
Can Co-Parenting Apps Keep Track of Important Documents?
Every parent can benefit from a file and image sharing feature offered within co-parenting apps. This kind of tool is typically used as a central database to store relevant information that both parents need access to, such as medical records, report cards, phone numbers, notes from teachers, etc. The files are hosted on a secure server, so even if one parent has a hardware or software issue, the information is not lost. This helps you and your co-parent share and keep track of valuable information regarding your children.
Do They Help with Shared Expenses?
Parents can absolutely use co-parenting apps to share and keep track of payments. You and your co-parent can keep all shared expenses for your children in one, secure place. A good co-parenting app should allow you to send or receive money or send payment requests to your co-parent. All activity is also timestamped and readily available for both parents to view—this can help prevent arguments about who paid what, when, or who still owes what.
What Are Some Recommended Co-Parenting Apps?
- Our Family Wizard
- Talking Parents
- AppClose
- 2Houses
Depending on the services they have, the range can run from free to about $25.00 a month.
Can Using a Co-Parenting App Help to Prevent Coparents from Having to Going Back to Court?
A co-parenting communication app can save you and your co-parent hours of additional court time or lawyer fees by keeping everything you say in one, easy to access place. If you do have to go back to mediation or court, a professional can look back at your full communication record. Getting a record is simple, saves evidence and research time, and you can be certain that nothing has been left out or deleted. This can encourage the coparents to resolve the issues, rather than litigate the facts.
If you are interested in creating a system with your co-parent that allows for easier communication, scheduling, and finance management, a co-parenting app is a great resource to consider. Having all correspondence in one place is not only conducive for organized planning, but also makes it easier to document your co-parenting dynamic in the event of needing to make modifications down the road. If you require legal guidance, our firm is here to help—call us at (503) 227-0200 to speak with one of our attorneys today.