Your court case is over, but your coparenting has just begun. Parents in two-home families often need continued help, advice, and guidance navigating the never-ending issues that come up while coparenting. Many times the Court has ordered you to communicate through an app designed for coparents. These apps are good for documentation purposes, but they have limitations when it comes to controlling the quantity and content of dialog between coparents.
Sometimes the Court orders you to utilize a "Parenting Coordinator". A Parenting Coordinator is a neutral third party who helps you implement your parenting plan and troubleshoot any coparenting issues that come up. The Parenting Coordinator can be an attorney or mental health professional. This is thought to be a more time- and cost-efficient way to handle coparenting issues than going back to court for every dispute. A Parenting Coordinator's hourly rate compares to an attorney's hourly rate, but you are usually ordered to split the cost (instead of you each paying an attorney to negotiate the issue for you).
Some professionals offer coparenting communication services unilaterally. Maybe you want a sounding board to see if you are being reasonable? Maybe you want a buffer between you and the coparent or there is an injunction in place? Maybe you want help crafting a request or response that will not escalate the situation? In these cases, you may want to hire a coparenting "coach". This is usually a mental health professional. You can utilize their service as much or as little as you wish. They often charge less per hour than a parenting coordinator (and certainly less than an attorney). The fact that you are getting professional help with your communications can be private and confidential in this context. As your coparenting and communication skills improve and emotions cool, your need for help with your coparenting communications will decrease.
Stacey is a Qualified Parenting Coordinator in the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida and acts as a coparenting coach and/or counselor. Give her a call to discuss what might work best for you!
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