Expense Tracking & Accountable Payments
Track, split, and prove every shared child-related expense. Each transaction carries a receipt, an explicit request status, and a verifiable payment timestamp — so unpaid balances stop being "he said, she said" and start being evidence. Recurring expenses auto-create on schedule. Disputes route directly into a Court-Ready evidence package. Shared financial goals (braces, summer camp, college fund) get their own contribution ledger.
Money disputes are the most common evidence gap
Family-law attorneys see the same scenario over and over: one parent paid for something, the other denies it months later. Without a contemporaneous record — receipt, request, approval, payment confirmation, all time-stamped — the dispute becomes one parent's word against the other's. Venmo screenshots and bank statements help, but they do not show context, agreement, or the request that preceded the payment.
Accountable Payments solves this by making the full state machine visible. Every shared expense moves through submitted → reviewed → approved → paid → (optionally) disputed. Every state transition is logged with who and when. The receipt photo is attached to the request, the payment confirmation is attached to the entry, and the whole record exports into a Court-Ready PDF on demand.
The five-state flow
- 1
Submitted
Parent uploads receipt + description.
- 2
Reviewed
Other parent acknowledges the submission.
- 3
Approved
Both parents agree the expense is legitimate and the split is fair.
- 4
Paid
Payment is recorded on the platform with a server-set timestamp.
- 5
Disputed
Either parent flags the expense; the dispute and any resolution are logged.
What the expense surface actually does
Each item below is shipped in the product today — verifiable by signing up. No "coming soon" features in this list.
Receipt-first submission
Every expense starts with a receipt photo and description — captured on the same screen, on mobile or desktop. The receipt is stored, the entry is time-stamped at the moment of submission, and the image becomes part of the record forever.
Auto-split by custody share, equal, or custom ratio
When a parent submits a shared expense, the platform splits it according to a rule you configure — custody percentage, equal share, or a custom ratio. You see the breakdown before submitting; the other parent sees the same math.
Status workflow: submitted → reviewed → approved → paid → disputed
Every expense moves through explicit states. Each state transition carries a timestamp and the actor who made it. Months later you can see exactly when a receipt was submitted, when it was reviewed, when payment was made, and whether anything was disputed along the way.
Recurring expenses on schedule
Daycare, health insurance premiums, after-school programs — set them once and they auto-create on the agreed cadence. Each recurring instance is itself a record with its own timestamp and approval state; there is no chance of double-billing or missed months going unnoticed.
Disputed expenses route to Court-Ready evidence
When an expense is disputed, the platform surfaces a Court-Ready Report prompt on the same screen. Every disputed item — the receipt, the request, the response, the dispute itself — becomes part of an exportable evidence package without further work on your part.
Shared financial goals with contribution ledger
Long-running shared objectives (braces, summer camp, college fund, child therapy) get their own contribution ledger. Both parents can contribute toward a target amount with a deadline; the ledger shows who contributed what, when, and toward which goal.
Annual financial summary export
Generate a clean annual summary for tax season, child-support recalculation hearings, or your own records. The summary includes every shared expense, every payment, every recurring obligation, broken down by category and by month.
Payment reminders + scheduled payment requests
Configure reminders for upcoming recurring expenses so neither parent is caught off-guard at the start of a month. Payment requests can be scheduled to appear at the right moment relative to a receipt or due date.
Every payment carries a verifiable timestamp
When a payment is marked paid, the timestamp is set by the platform — not by either parent's phone clock. The full payment history is one of the seven evidence categories included in every Court-Ready Report, with hash verification through the public ledger.
Accountable Payments scales with your situation
Free
View only
See the payments interface and learn the workflow. Active payment requests require a paid plan.
Standard
Full payments workflow
Create and track payment requests, with 1-year retention, recurring expense automation, and receipt storage.
Premium
Unlimited
Unlimited active requests, unlimited retention, AI-summarized financial timelines, and integration with shared goals.
When the receipt-first workflow earns its keep
The disputed daycare bill
You paid the daycare invoice in February. Now you are being told you did not. The Accountable Payments log shows the receipt you submitted, the timestamp of the request, the approval, and the payment confirmation — all in one PDF an attorney can hand to a judge without further explanation.
The unpaid orthodontist bills
Six months of unpaid orthodontia. The expense log shows every submission, every reminder, every absence of response. The pattern is the evidence; the platform has already done the documentation work.
The recurring expense both parents stop arguing about
Daycare costs $1,200/month. Set up once as a recurring expense with 60/40 split, it auto-creates each month, auto-splits, and each payment lands with both parents seeing the same numbers — no monthly argument about who owes what.
The braces fund both parents contribute to
You agree to save together for braces. Each month one of you contributes through the shared goal ledger. When the orthodontist appointment arrives, the goal balance shows exactly what was contributed by whom — useful for the actual orthodontist payment and for any later question about who showed up financially.