Top Apps to Help You Through Divorce

If you are going through a Divorce and especially if you are in Court, these Apps and Websites can help.

Let’s face it. Divorce and especially divorce in court is challenging. It is life-changing and emotionally taxing. Getting support and the best tools will help you get through it. Here is a shortlist of some websites and Apps that a lot of other people have found useful. To be clear, we are not being paid by any of them, they are just a collection that we know of to help you.

 

STEPS TO JUSTICE.ca

The link is Family Law – Steps to Justice. This is a site is hosted by Community Legal Education Ontario, a project by the Province of Ontario, Legal Aid Ontario, the Law Society of Ontario and other organizations. We cannot emphasize enough how helpful this site is. It takes you across all areas of family law from separation agreements, child support, spousal support and how to deal with your assets in a separation. It has a wealth of frequently asked questions. The questions are ones we get asked a lot so definitely look at this. If you click on the “what to do if my spouse and I cannot agree?” then it leads you through a detailed step-by-step guide on how alternative options to court work, as well as a step-by-step guide to court. This really is the first go-to website to give you an overall understanding of not only the law on separation but a guide to how to get through the court system.

 

OUR FAMILY WIZARD

This is a communication and calendar app. Communication breakdowns are one of the biggest reasons that marriages break down. If you and your former spouse are having difficulty keeping communications calm and civil, this app can help. For a modest annual fee, it allows you both to upload to their secure app all the events going on with your kids into a shared calendar between the two of you. You can post doctor’s appointments, hockey games, school events, dance classes, and bills for things you share. You may have had a common fridge calendar to keep track of all these things when you were together, and now that you are not, being apart can make communication much worse. This app allows you both to post to it on separate pages for things like the basic parenting calendar, the holidays calendar, events, sports and a host of other things to reduce some of the friction in trying to keep your own busy life on track, as well as keeping your former spouse updated. No more hunting for older texts to try and remember what your spouse said about your son’s doctor’s appointment. It even has a “Tone Meter” to tell you if you might not have worded the entry you were going to post in the most neutral way. It will tell you to re-write it. You can find them at ourfamilywizard.com/families.

 

MY SUPPORT CALCULATOR

We talk about this site to our clients almost every day. It is free, with upgrades that are modest, and a fabulous resource if child or spousal support is an issue in your divorce. If you are in Canada, this site can give you information on every province (they are all different) for child and spousal support. The one province they do not cover is Quebec as their tables are specialized. This site allows you to input how many children you have, how much time they live with each of you and your incomes. From that, it will tell you (approximately) the child support amount you would pay or receive. We say approximately as there are many possible variations on the support depending upon your incomes. If both persons are regular salaried employees, have no bonus and no other income, this site works brilliantly.  If one (or both) run a company or small business or have commission income, you really need some legal advice to figure out what incomes to use. The other thing this site does is give you some guidance on spousal support. It has a wealth of information on the law about both child and spousal support. A great resource to do some reading on your rights in this area, even if you do not look at their calculations. You can find them at mysupportcalculator.ca.

 

LOOKING AFTER YOURSELF

Let’s be real. Separating and divorcing can be one of the most traumatic events of your life. If you cannot eat and are having trouble sleeping, you are not going to be able to absorb any of the legal points that you need to resolve, let alone make good decisions for yourself in that moment. You really need to look after yourself more than ever. Sometimes it takes many months, and in some cases a few years to wind your way through all of the issues that need to be sorted out in a divorce. If you have an employee assistance program through your work, call them and use it. A good counselor will be invaluable to guiding you through all this. You need the support of friends and family. You may also want to consider a few anxiety reducing Apps to help you navigate the emotional toll that divorcing can take on you. If you keep it all bottled up, it will make things harder for you. Here are some that might help: CALM https://www.calm.com, HEADSPACE https://www.headspace.com and HAPPIFY https://happify.com.

 

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