Co-Parenting Tips For Shared Expenses

Co-Parenting Tips For Shared Expenses

By Marguerita Cheng, CFP, RICP On 03/10/2025

National Co-Parenting Day is an opportunity to change the mindset on divorce and work on the relationship with your co-parent. Successful co-parenting means for both parents to work together and share responsibility of a child or children. One source of conflict for co-parents is finances.

Over the past decade, parents have been consistently more likely to report experiencing high levels of stress compared to other adults. In 2023, 33% of parents reported high levels of stress in the past month compared to 20% of other adults, according to the National Institute of Health.

Shared expenses for children refer to any child-raising costs that co-parents share. There are custody agreements that detail shared expenses such as placement of children and who pays for which bills. Common expenses include unreimbursed medical bills, clothing, personal care, school fees, and other expenses.

“According to USDA data and inflation statistics from the BLS, raising a child in 2023 could cost an average of $331,933 from the time a child is born to age 18,” according to Northwestern Mutal.

Shared expenses are different from child support, which is when one parent pays for fundamental expenses. To split the expenses, co-parents look at income and the custody arrangement. Together they come up with a fair plan that divides expenses between both parents. Sometimes it is not 50-50 due to income, child support, and who has the children more.

One way to share expenses is to use “pro rata” splits meaning according to each parent’s income.

Agree on Shared Expenses

Consider all financial obligations, including education, healthcare, and extracurricular activities. For example healthcare would include health care insurance premiums, prescriptions, copays etc. Dental would be fillings, preventative dental work, dental surgery etc. Education would be extra-curricular activities, student fees, tutoring, field trips, lunch tickets, school supplies, and yearbook fees. Other expenses include transportation, daycare, and other items that a child needs.

Also write down who is responsible for taxes for the children. Only one parent can claim the child as a dependent each year. The parent who has majority of custody of the child claims the child as a dependent.

Create a Budget

Create a spreadsheet with all the expenses listed out and how much each parent is responsible for.  The spreadsheet will help a parent prepare for other items down the line such as prom or a planned surgery. 

Decide Who Tracks Expenses

One parent can submit receipts and totals to the other for reimbursement. Be sure to include columns for the date, amount, and who paid for the expense. Keeping copy of bills and proof of payment will help resolve any legal/personal conflict over financial responsibilities.

Helpful Apps

There are apps co-parents can use to help them including DComply: An app that allows co-parents to send and receive payments, bills, and expenses. For example one parent took a kid to the dentist and there is a fee. According to the app, “Take a picture, log the expense, press send and the bill is on the way to your co-parent in seconds. When the other parent pays the bill the reimbursement will go straight into your bank account.”

Before platforms like DComply, separated, or divorced couples who shared children agreed to and manually managed bill payments. This caused misunderstandings and conflicts without things in writing or proof of things being paid.  This app does the following: Record and manage child support payments, easily send bills, scan receipts and export transactions, easily manage disputes through the app.   

OurFamilyWizard: An app that offers tools like expense tracking and payment logs. Manage schedules, track expenses, share files, send secure messages. Parent, Child, Third-Party and Professional Accounts on OurFamilyWizard each have their own levels of access to family information.

Amicable: An app that helps with the separation process, including dividing assets and creating budgets. Co-parenting schedules. For example, keep track of school holidays, drop-offs and pick-ups and overnights. Features designed to facilitate open and effective communication between co-parents. It offers advice and information on the divorce process.

“The financial journey of parenting can be complex and challenging. Nearly two-thirds of parents (63%) report encountering financial difficulties associated with parenting, and a majority (58%) experience stress about their finances,” according to a Merrill Lynch Wealth Management research project.

The Unexpected

In order for shared expenses to work successfully, co-parents need to be on the same page. Both parents should be clear about the scope and what is expected of each person. In life people face job loss and other financial hardships. It is important and essential for children that their parents have an open line of communication. A parent could lose a job, deal with an ill relative or spouse, a death, and injury or illness themselves. Perhaps co-parents can come up with solutions while dealing with financial hardships.

Having a plan, documentation and method for shared expenses will take the guesswork, resentment and frustration out of the equation so you can spend your time being the best parent you can be.

Tagged with: co parenting, cdfa, idfa, divorce, finances, children

Blog Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within these blog posts are solely the author’s and do not reflect the opinions and beliefs of the Certitrek, IDFA or its affiliates.