5 Best Online Communication Tools for Co-Parents

Learning how to communicate with your ex effectively is essential to healthy co-parenting. Yet, it can be challenging to figure out what types of communication work best for each situation. You might find them to be a helpful addition if you haven't tried online communication tools yet. Before choosing an online tool to aid in communication, it is essential to remember how these tools are to be used.

Online Communication Tools Should:

  • Improve the quality of your conversations.
  • Improve your ability to share information.
  • Increase the frequency of sharing.
  • Make conversations more convenient.

The major benefits of co-parenting apps and online tools include the ability to share each child's schedule, keep each parent notified about upcoming appointments, and track any shared expenses. If you think this sort of tool might be useful, give these top-rated co-parenting communication tools a try.

1

Coparently

Father folding laundry near children playing with toy train and wood blocks
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Coparently offers online and mobile communication tools to help co-parents improve calendaring issues, communicate more clearly, track shared expenses, and store accurate, up-to-date contact information. The solution costs $99 per year, per parent, or $9.99 per month. Again, that's per-parent pricing, which adds up. On the plus side, the solution's clear interface may mean that you'll be more likely to use it regularly.

Tips:

  • Add the app to your phone for anywhere access to important medical information, including prescription history and contact information for each of your kids' doctors.
  • Add your kids to the account, so they can use it to communicate with each of you about forgotten items, scheduling requests, and more.
  • Coparently offers a 30-day free trial; give it a go and see if it works for you.
2

Our Family Wizard

Our Family Wizard is an online tool designed specifically for co-parenting families. It allows parents to manage all aspects of their shared parenting agreement online and in one place, from calendars to expenses. The company even offers Apple and Android apps for accessible communication on the go.

The cost starts at $99 per parent per year, and child accounts are free. Subscribers gain access to a full set of co-parenting tools, from color-coded child custody calendars to shared visitation schedules, secure messaging, family information storage (for things like immunization records), shared expense payment, management, and more.

According to the company, the app is recommended by family law attorneys, mental health practitioners, and courts in all 50 states, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. 

Tips:

  • Activate the apps.
  • Leverage the expense tracking features.
  • Share your account with your ex.
3

Cozi

Cozi is a free online calendar program that's ideal for co-parenting communication. In addition to shared calendar pages, it also offers free mobile options, shopping lists, meal planning, to-do lists, and more.

Tips:

  • Activate reminders.
  • Activate the mobile app.
  • Create a separate kids' calendar and share it with your ex.
  • Try Cozi Gold (at $19.99 per year) for an ad-free experience.
  • Use the family journal to track your youngsters' milestones.
  • Use the to-do lists to track homework assignments and long-term school projects.
4

Google Calendar

Google Calendar is another convenient way to coordinate schedules with your ex. Simply create a calendar and share editing permissions with him/her. Note that you can also schedule regular events, like weekly visits, to repeat automatically.

Tips:

  • Create automatic reminders and regularly repeating events.
  • Create a separate Google calendar for your kids' activities.
  • Grant your ex editing rights if you want them to make modifications.
  • Share the schedule with your ex.
5

Talking Parents

Talking Parents is a different type of online communication tool for co-parents. It's designed to create a system-of-record for your communications if you need to supply proof of correspondence to the courts.

PDF records are $9.99 or free with an upgraded account and certified printed records are $39.99 + $0.19 cents per page (including shipping). Talking Parents is free on any browser but a Standard ($5.99 a month) or Premium ($19.99 a month) account is necessary to access the mobile app on iPhone or Android.

Tips:

  • It provides a secure system of record.
  • Talking Parents also offers a location-based search tool for parents looking for a family lawyer.
  • Talking Parents can be helpful for parents with a history of conflict.

A Word From Verywell

Remember that the tools you select will only work for you if you use them. So give each one a try for at least a week before making a final decision. And be sure to choose an option that works for your ex, too. The idea is to use your online co-parenting tool to improve the frequency, quality, and convenience of your ongoing communication. So don't settle for something that isn't working for you or is too complicated to use.

1 Source
Verywell Family uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
  1. Bergström M, Sarkadi A, Hjern A, Fransson E. "We also communicate through a book in the diaper bag"-Separated parents´ ways to coparent and promote adaptation of their 1-4 year olds in equal joint physical custodyPLoS One. 2019;14(4):e0214913. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0214913

By Jennifer Wolf
Jennifer Wolf is a PCI Certified Parent Coach and a strong advocate for single moms and dads.