GUIDES
The things nobody tells you.
Written for the parent reading this at midnight. No platitudes, no encouragement to build a case, and honest about where Manon is not the answer.
Communication
How to communicate with a difficult co-parent
Practical methods for co-parenting communication when the other parent is hostile: BIFF replies, grey rock, the 24-hour rule, structured subjects, and how to stop a message ruining the following day.
Read the guide →Records & evidence
Are co-parenting app records accepted in court?
No app can guarantee admissibility.
Read the guide →Records & evidence
A co-parenting app for court
What a court-ready record needs, what to check before you choose an app, and what to do if an order names one.
Read the guide →Choosing an app
Choosing a co-parenting app in Australia
What to look for, how an app fits parenting plans and orders, and what the apps cost in Australian dollars.
Read the guide →Schedules
Custody schedules explained
The common shared custody patterns compared — 2-2-3, 2-2-5-5, alternating weeks and every-other-weekend — with the ages each suits and the practical trade-offs of each.
Read the guide →Schedules
The 2-2-5-5 custody schedule
Two fixed weeknights each and alternating long weekends: the calendar, who it suits, what is harder and how the handovers work.
Read the guide →Schedules
The 2-2-3 custody schedule
Short gaps for young children, at the price of six handovers a fortnight and weekdays that flip every week.
Read the guide →Schedules
Week on, week off
The simplest 50/50 pattern: two handovers a fortnight, a seven-night gap, and how to choose the changeover day.
Read the guide →Schedules
The 3-4-4-3 custody schedule
Mostly fixed weekdays with one swing day, a four-night longest gap, and how it compares with 2-2-5-5.
Read the guide →Communication
When your co-parent won't communicate
Practical steps when the other parent ignores messages, refuses to use an app, or communicates only through the children — including what to document and when to escalate.
Read the guide →Health
When your child is ill and lives in two homes
How to handle medication, appointments and handovers when a child is unwell across two households — what to agree in advance and how to keep a dose record both parents trust.
Read the guide →Money
Sharing the cost of a child across two homes
What counts as a shared expense, how to split it, why a receipt settles more arguments than a rule, and what to do about the costs that are too big to absorb quietly.
Read the guide →School
Keeping school straight across two homes
Getting both parents onto the school’s list, forwarding notices instead of summarising them, packing lists, homework nights, parent-teacher slots and the sick-day phone call.
Read the guide →Records & evidence
How to document co-parenting without making it worse
What to record, how to phrase it, and the difference between keeping a record and building a case — plus the documentation habits that damage your position rather than help it.
Read the guide →Starting out
The first year of co-parenting
An honest account of the first twelve months after separation with children — the handovers, the empty house, telling the school, and the things that quietly get easier.
Read the guide →