How OurFamilyWizard benefits co-parents and calms conflict

When parents divorce or separate, they must navigate some difficult waters. The OurFamilyWizard® website and mobile app provide supportive tools they can use as they raise their children in separate households. OurFamilyWizard also creates an accurate record of co-parenting communications and activity.

Our goal is not only to make co-parents’ lives easier, but also to shield their children from conflict, whether by reducing it or simply limiting it to one password-protected app.

OurFamilyWizard is routinely ordered by Judiciary across the UK, and it is often recommended by CAFCASS as well as barristers, solicitors, mental health professionals, and other practitioners in the family law community. It is an essential co-parenting tool, particularly in medium- to high-conflict cases.

Lawyers and other family law professionals can have Practitioner Accounts that allow them to view their clients’ activity in the app. This includes messages, reimbursements, the parenting schedule, and more. They can also download customised reports of any or all of this activity. If necessary, certified records can be requested from OurFamilyWizard.

When clients know you could see their activity, they tend to behave more civilly. The possibility of professional oversight helps parents communicate in a business-like manner rather than speaking or writing emotionally. Sometimes, this changes the nature of the entire co-parenting relationship.

OurFamilyWizard’s proprietary tool, ToneMeter™, also serves this purpose by warning co-parents when they’re writing in an upsetting, aggressive, or humiliating way. This gives them a chance to rewrite and keep their communications positive and productive—which also ingrains new behavioural patterns.

The Messaging feature also has a “first viewed” time stamp that clearly shows whether and when a message has been read. This is another common area of antagonism (“I never got your message!”). When the plain, indisputable truth is clearly established, there’s less to quarrel about.

Expenses are another common point of contention, but the app simplifies co-parenting financials and shows who owes what for which expenditures. Each expense requires specific information to keep everything clear. If a co-parent attaches a receipt to a reimbursement request (optional), it’s very difficult to dispute the expense.

The shared Calendar also serves to smooth over points of trouble. In OurFamilyWizard, it’s easy to set a parenting time schedule that reflects the parenting agreement, including exceptions for holidays and special events. And if a co-parent needs to request a change, they can do so through the Trade/Swap tool, rather than through an open-ended message.

The Info Bank also helps parents avoid communicating directly. They can store all sorts of information in this highly organised feature, ranging from school reports to medical records to shoe sizes. No need to send a text and wait for a response when they’re out shoe shopping—just check the Info Bank. It’s difficult to create conflict without communicating.

Co-parents sometimes argue over whether one showed up at the right place at the right time to hand over the children. With the Journal feature, a co-parent can log GPS proof of their presence in a specific location at a noted time. Co-parents can also write Journal entries that describe memories or other important happenings.

OurFamilyWizard reports are accurate and complete. Sent messages can’t be edited or deleted, nor can past Calendar events or reimbursement requests that have received a response. Based on an unalterable record, OurFamilyWizard reports are highly reliable, and that’s why they’re easily admissible in court. This brings a new element of honesty to the co-parenting experience, often calming some aspects of conflict.

Even when conflict stubbornly remains, the app helps minimise anxiety for a co-parent who is trying to avoid it. Receiving all co-parenting notifications through one app helps prevent a barrage of messages from multiple sources, as does switching to a daily digest and dealing with the app when the co-parent feels ready.

We are committed to helping co-parents parent effectively, despite the presence of conflict. Our other goal is to reduce that conflict wherever possible. OurFamilyWizard has been shortlisted for two different awards for Innovation in Family Law over the past year, and we are providing complimentary training for any professionals who want to know more about the programme. OurFamilyWizard remains at the forefront of co-parenting technology.