Latest / Family Law Talk / The prominence of co-parenting applications

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The prominence of co-parenting applications · Family Law Talk

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Family Law Talk. Familylaw Talk presented by Kirk
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  Stangy of Stangy Law Firm PC. Stangy Law Firm is
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  a multi state.
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  Speaker 2: Family law firm.
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  Speaker 1: Now here's your host, Kirk Stangy.
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  Speaker 2: Welcome to Family Law Talk. We have an interesting topic today.
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  The topic is the prominence of co parenting applications and
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  this episode today is based on an article on our blog,
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  Family Lawheadquarters dot com dated July eighth, twenty twenty four,
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  and the title of that article is the rise of
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  co parenting Applications. So as a follow up to the
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  episode today, go on over to familourheadquarters dot com and
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  read the article on this same topic for more information.
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  But let's go ahead and jump on into the topic
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  at hand today. The reality is co parenting applications are
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  on the rise. More and more individuals who are going
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  through divorce and cussy cases end up using co parenting
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  communication applications. And these applications can be pretty broadly used.
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  So again I references before, but it can be used
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  for communications so versus texting or emailing back and forth.
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  Parents who have gone through a divorce or custom case
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  communicate to these applications Okay. Other things that these applications
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  do is calendar doctor's appointments, other key events that might
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  be out there, like school stuff, other activities that kids
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  might have. I mean, in other words, this is a
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  calendar that's there for both parents to see in reference
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  in terms of things that are coming up. And then
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  on top of it, the payment of expenses for the
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  kids can be done through many of these apps. So
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  parents can submit receipts invoices if you will submitted into
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  the app. The other parent then has the ability to
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  approve or disapprove of the expenditure, and then they're even
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  able to make the payment through the app itself. And
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  so the good thing about that is ultimately there's no
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  dispute over whether or not a payment was made or not.
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  Now look, some individuals use these apps without a court order.
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  They do it by consent. As I said, these apps
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  are becoming more and more commonplace. They're becoming more and
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  more popular, and I think this goes hand in hand
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  with just the rise of smartphones in general and individuals
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  being very used to using all kinds of apps in
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  their daily life already. So most individuals on their smartphones,
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  you know, you can do just about anything on your smartphone.
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  It's a mini computer, if you will. And so individuals
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  are very used to using applications. So using one of
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  these applications is typically pretty seamless for individuals in general.
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  It's just easy for folks to do. It's right there
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  on that smartphone. It's easy to access, and it can
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  be a very good thing for many individuals. Now, look,
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  lots of individuals are court order to do it. So
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  courts more and more or ordering parties to do this.
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  And this could be particularly true in cases where maybe
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  it's tried or litigated, or it's a case that is
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  somewhat contentious, if you will, and there's a lot of
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  back and forth and disagreements. And really the idea here
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  is that courts order parties to use these apps because
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  it can make things better, at least that's the hope.
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  It can make things better in terms of communications, calendaring,
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  in the payment of expenses. So again, these apps are
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  on the rise. They're becoming more and more prominent. And
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  I will just say when I first started practicing family
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  law way back in two thousand, I didn't see individuals
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  using apps like this. But over the course of time,
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  they have become more and more common, more and more prominent,
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  and more and more parents who go through divorce or
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  chalcustic cases end up using these apps. Now, look, there's
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  lots of different types of applications out there, some are
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  more common than others. But just to give you the
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  names and some of these apps just so you know
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  in case you haven't heard of them, but our Family
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  Wizard and Talking Parents are two well known cold parenting
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  applications out there. There's other applications out there like two Houses,
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  cole parently co parent, and then really a litany of
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  others out there. Like I say, this is becoming more
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  and more prominent, more and more commonplace in individuals more
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  and more either using these apps, like I said, by
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  consent where courts are ordering the parties to use these
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  apps as part of the disposition of the divorce or
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  the custody case itself. So let's talk about some of
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  the advantages. And obviously others might have other advantages of
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  these apps that I'm not going to reference here, but
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  these are some of the common ones that lots of
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  individuals would cite who have used these apps. And you know,
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  you can do research on the web and do Google
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  searches of this if you will, and you can maybe
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  find some other advantages of these apps. But let me
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  give you five of the advantages that are sort of
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  commonly out there and commonly viewed by those in divorce
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  and family law circles. One is the communication issue. It
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  could make it easier for parties to communicate with one another.
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  It's in one place, so it's in the app, so
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  individuals don't have to switch between text and emails and
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  phone communications. In other words, they can do all the
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  communication right within the app. It's preserved. Once that communications
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  in the app, it typically can't be deleted from the app,
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  So if somebody sends something, it's there and it'll be
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  there for the court of view, the guardian that light them,
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  or the attorneys. And so obviously that preservation piece can
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  be a big piece. And at the same token, you know,
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  individuals have to exhibit a little more pause in terms
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  of what they send, because once they send something within
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  that app, it's hard to unsend it. But look, it's there,
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  it's in one place, it's for everybody to view, and
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  it's one central place. And that is typically one of
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  the most commonly cited positive feet of these apps that
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  people cite all right two, and this goes a little
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  bit hand in hand with number one. But like I
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  said before, when the communication is preserved and folks know
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  that what they send can't be unsend sent if you will,
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  and it's going to be in this app, many are
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  more restrained in what they send. And so while it's
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  easy for individuals to fire off a text message or
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  an email and maybe not take a lot of time
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  for reflection before sending it, the fact that this is
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  preserved can cause some people to think twice before hitting
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  that send button. Some of these apps even help assess
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  the tone of the message itself before it's sent, like
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  Talking Parents has that feature. In our Family Wizard, I
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  believe has that feature too, where we'll assess the tone,
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  and that can give an individual a little bit of
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  time to think about what they're going to send a
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  maybe rephraser communication before firing it off. And so look,
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  that preservation piece can be a huge feature of this
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  app that many commonly would cite as a positive attribute. Okay,
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  Number three, co parenting applications can be great in terms
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  of payment of expenses for the kids. So without one
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  of these applications, you know, parties could be sending checks
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  in the mail, they could be giving cash to the
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  other party, and when this takes place, there can later
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  be disputes about whether the money was sent, whether the
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  money was received, whether it was deposited in the bank,
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  and you know that can cause lots of problems. But
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  where the payment is made in the app itself and
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  there's a record of it, nobody can dispute it. Nobody
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  can dispute to what was submitted to the other parents.
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  So if a receipt is attached or an invoice is attached,
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  then the other party is going to be able to
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  see that, and that record can be a good thing
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  that leads to a lot less disputes. And you know,
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  it helps parents avoid having to put a check in
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  the mail if you will, you know, all they have
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  to do is make the payment through the app. So
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  that's number three. Number four, the calendar features of these
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  apps can be very helpful. So look, without an app
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  like this, you know, parents could be confused about appointment dates,
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  school events, activities and even the locations of these of
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  these kinds of matters. Right, So within these apps, there's
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  a universal calendar where both parents can see it, you know,
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  and the time and the date and the location of
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  the event could be placed in there in This feature
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  can be very positive because without it there could be
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  lots of disputes about these kinds of matters and one
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  parent might say they didn't know or they didn't know
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  the location of the event or the exact time or whatnot.
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  So the calendar feature can be very very helpful, all right,
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  Number five. More and more these apps are now incorporating
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  phone calls and virtual conference features within these apps apps.
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  So look, most communication is going to be typed within
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  the app, you know, much like a text message or
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  an email if you will, and it's preserved, and that's
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  typically the way, you know, lots of parents communicate about
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  matters involving the kids. I mean, you put it in
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  writing for the other parent to see. But there may
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  be times where phone calls or virtual conferences need to
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  occur between the parties, and the reality is as it
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  could be disputes over what was said in person what
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  was said on the phone, and these kinds of disputes
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  can lead to you know, turning fees and more motions
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  being filed and more problems. And so what these apps
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  offer is that these phone calls and virtual conferences be recorded,
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  and so if they're recorded, there can be no real
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  dispute over what took place and what was said. And
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  this can be a positive thing. Obviously, it can come
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  with some stress if you're being recorded. That can be
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  a little bit stressful for some people, much like you know, communication,
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  that can cause some stress when you know it's preserved forever.
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  But again, it can lead to less back and forth
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  about what was said and what wasn't said. It can
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  give an individual the opportunity to go back and review
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  something too, because sometimes you know, when two parties are
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  having a conversation, in the moment, maybe something doesn't really register.
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  But if a party has the ability to go back
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  and look at it again, then maybe, you know, they
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  get a little bit more clarification there in the second
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  time they hear it, they understand a little bit better. Okay,
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  so those would be five positive attributes of these apps.
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  But let's go through some of the potential disadvantages of
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  these apps, because that's important too. Obviously, you know, everybody
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  who uses these apps isn't in love with it. So
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  let's go through some of the potential disadvantages. Look, some
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  might not like the cost of these apps, and that
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  can be particularly true when an individual's already had to
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  pay for attorneys and the divorce accustoic case, maybe there's
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  child support and spouses support their expenses that are out there,
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  and now you know there's a fee for using an
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  application like this. Some parties might just not like that
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  at all. So just the added costs would be one
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  potential disadvantage. On the other hand, it's not that expensive
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  to give the counter to that, and if it results
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  in less back and forth and results in less legal
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  wrangling in the future, than the cost can easily be
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  worth it. But some might not like the cost all
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  right too. For those who are not tech savvy, they may,
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  you know, they might struggle with these apps. You know,
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  for individuals who are very good on smartphones and computers
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  and they're very used to using applications, they're going to
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  be probably great with this. But for individuals who are
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  not great at technology, who maybe are not individuals who
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  are using their smartphone all the time, you know, maybe
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  a little bit more old school, this could be a
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  struggle for some individuals, so that that would be a
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  meal disadvantage for sure. All right. Three others may feel
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  just a little bit stressed when they contemplate that all
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  the communications preserved. You know, send a text, they send
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  an email, you know, that's a little more casual. But
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  when you send something within the app, that can cause
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  some folks to have a little bit of analysis paralysis
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  in terms of what to say. It can create a
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  little more just you know, concern about using these apps,
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  and it can cause some individuals who are maybe not
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  fluent in typing and writing communication to struggle a little bit.
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  So that could definitely be a thing. Now for individuals
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  who write and type a lot, I mean, that's not
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  going to be as big of a thing, but for
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  individuals who are not as fluent in language, this can
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  cause them to feel a little bit stressed by using
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  these apps. And then really the last one I would
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  list would be look, typically parties, when they use an
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  app like this, they've got to go in every so
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  often and respond within a certain timeframe. And this is
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  going to vary based on what's in the court order
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  if this is being used through a cord order, but
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  some individuals might be stressed the idea that they have
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  to check the app every day and respond within a
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  certain number of hours, you know, that could be stressful. Particularly,
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  take somebody who likes to go to places where maybe
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  cell phone or wireless signal isn't great. So take somebody
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  who likes to camp, likes to hike, likes to go
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  to you know, more remote places. An app like this
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  might be potentially troublesome for them where they just have
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  no signal, and they might not like that in the
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  fact that they can't get a break from every using
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  the app. So look for some individuals that might feel
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  a little restraining to have to use an app like this. Again,
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  particularly if it's an individual who's going to a place
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  where there's just no cell phone or wireless signal. And
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  so certainly if it's an individual like that, maybe there
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  needs to be some exception in the court order in
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  terms of how often an individual needs to check the
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  application itself. But that would really be the last disadvantage
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  that I'd list here today. Again, others out there who've
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  used these apps might have other positive attributes eight site
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  and other negative attributes eight site about these applications. But
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  the truth of the matter is co parenting applications are
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  on the rise. They're more and more commonplace lots of
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  individuals going through divorce and cosse cases end up using
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  these applications. Of my guess is this is only going
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  to increase in prominence going into the future. So I
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  wanted to cover this topic today to give the pros
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  and the cons and again as a follow up to
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  the episode today, going over to Familawheadquarters dot com, read
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  the article titled the rise of co parenting Applications day
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  to July eighth, twenty twenty four to give you more information.
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  And like I said, if you go on the web
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  do some searches, you'll certainly find individuals writing about other
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  pros and cons of these applications. But the truth is
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  these applications are here, they're here to stay. As it
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  appears now they seem to be growing and prominent. So
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  it's definitely an important topic and one I wanted to
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  cover here today. But thanks for tuning in, stay tuned
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  to our next episode coming up on Family Law Talk.
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  Thank you very much.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Family Law Talk with Kirk Stangy.
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