Divorce and Child Custody arrangements – How technology can help.
We know that raising children is challenging enough, so when you and your partner go your separate ways, it can be an emotional, stressful and difficult time for everyone — especially for your children.
Things can definitely get a little messy when you are trying to keep track of all the costs, schedules, and who said what and when, which can take up that valuable time you should be spending with your children.
In today’s hectic times, kids can have even busier schedules than the adults. Some children have health issues and knowing where all that valuable information is when you need it most is incredibly important. While in some instances, the courts also want to see that you and your partner are communicating effectively. So how can you keep track of it all?
Technology has heard the call of divorced parents everywhere and have come up with some great apps to help you co-parent through divorce with ease.
These co-parenting apps are available to download via the links provided.
- Store all your communications in one location with date and time stamps;
- Fun Place for Kids as you can hear from your children about what is happening in their and from their perspective;
- Everyone’s involved because with profiles for each member of the family, everyone can join. This can be great for grandparents and blended families as it helps everyone stay connected;
- It has resources for different kinds of situations;
- There is a family diary/calendar which helps everyone know what is happening and makes it easy to organise and co-ordinate together.
A simple and easy-to-use online resource that streamlines communications between both parents.
Our Children allows you to –
- Store all your communications in one location with date and time stamps
- Eliminate the he said/she said arguments as nothing can be deleted or edited
- Keep track of what money is owed and what has been received. The expense tracker, identifies who contributed to what and the type of expense
- Access the co-parenting calendar and stay on track with custody days, school assessments, events, social and extra-curricular activities
- Maintain records for general communications between parents, saving the kids from having to relay information
The Our Children Co-Parenting App also gives you access to free tools and other services with a FREE 30 day trial.
A family calendar app perfect for every family including those co-parenting. Cozi helps to coordinate and communicate everyone’s schedules and activities and is also helpful in allowing you to track grocery lists, which can be helpful for the “favourite” brands or dietary requirements. You can manage all your to do lists, and plan for meals with favourite recipes within this easy to use app.
Cozi is a totally free family calendar app that allows you to create and share separate calendars across devices helping you to keep appointments and activities all in one place and even upload photos and email precious moments to family and friends.
Contain your schedules, expenses, and communication with Our Family Wizard. An app designed specifically for co-parenting, allowing you to solve shared custody challenges faster and easier without all the confusion. Our Family Wizard is a great app for divorced parents that helps to minimise conflict, giving you more time to focus on your kids when they need you the most.
Our Family Wizard allows you to document your parenting time, reimbursement requests, payments, and exchanges. What’s more; all family members can access Our Family Wizard at different levels (including the kids and grandparents) giving everyone the same tools and information so nothing can be miscommunicated.
Use the Our Family Wizard Calendar to track child custody days, appointments, events and anything else you need. You can also submit requests to change dates or times as needed.
Use the Secure Message Board for all your communications. The platform ensures no message can be deleted or edited helping you to keep your communications positive.
The inbuilt journal will help you track milestones or memories while using “check ins” will help to verify your presence at exchanges or other locations.
The Expense Log can be used to attach all your receipt files and track all your parenting expenses with precision. While the Info Bank is the place for all your personal information. Upload medical histories including immunisations and allergy information, insurance information, emergency contacts, files and more.
Have everything you need stored securely in one place, at your fingertips wherever you are.
And lastly don’t forget to utilise your Google or Mac Calendar for a convenient way to coordinate with your ex. Create a shared calendar and add recurring events, track your custody days and input activities and appointments. Using shared files can allow you to create folders of information for health related issues or Emergencies.
Technology is really helping families stay connected even when separated. So, remember! If you need a co-parenting app, then use it to its fullest potential. The app is there to HELP you ALL through what can be a confusing and stressful time. All the information that is uploaded into the app is there to ensure that both parties have access to the same information and remain on time for every appointment so that your children don’t have to worry unnecessarily. It ensures consistency across the board giving you greater confidence as you navigate the world of co-parenting.
If you need some help to navigate through the challenges of co-parenting and separation contact the team at Smart Legal Family Lawyers today.