How do I get started with the Expenses feature?

The Expenses feature in OurFamilyWizard helps you and your coparent track shared, child-related expenses, request reimbursement, and keep all financial records organized in one place. You’ll use this feature to create expense entries, review requests from your co-parent, and record payments, all with clear documentation.

In this article, you’ll learn how to set up expense categories, enter a new expense, respond to requests from your co-parent, and make or document payments.

Setting up categories

Expense Categories break down your expenses based on how much you and your co-parent are each responsible for covering. There are four preset categories in your account that are entirely optional to use: General (50/50), Medical/Dental (50/50), Other (50/50), Personal (100/0).

You can also create your own custom categories to break down expenses based on the percentages of responsibility that you and your co-parent use for different types of expenses. Learn how to create custom categories with this tutorial.

Creating a New Expense

Log in to your OurFamilyWizard account and navigate to Expenses.
Navigate to Expenses from the main menu.
Click Create Expense by tapping the blue + icon.
Complete all required fields:
1. Who owes
2. Expense name or description
3. Category
4. Total amount
5. Purchase Date
6. Children
Complete any desired optional fields:
- Receipt: You can upload a single receipt file to each expense.
- Private: If you wish to keep this expense entry private, check the box. When marked as private, only you will be able to see the expense entry details.
Click Create to submit the expense. If the Expense you created is shared, your coparent will be notified according to their notification preferences.

Please note: Before creating a new expense in Expenses, you must first make sure that you have at least one child listed on your account. You can view the status of child accounts linked to your family in User Management within the My Account section of the website. See: How do I add or remove a child or third party account?

Reviewing and Responding to Expenses

There are different actions you can take on an expense request submitted by your co-parent to you. To respond, go to Expenses.

Select the expense you want to review.
Review the details and any attached documentation. If a receipt is not included, you can use the Request Receipt button to notify your coparent.
Choose to:
1. Approve: Approving an expense informs your co-parent that you agree to the request.
2. Refuse: Refusing an expense informs your co-parent that you do not agree with the details.

Your response will be recorded and visible to both parents.

Please note: If you mark an expense as refused, you are still able to mark the expense as approved at a later time. However, once an expense is marked as approved, it cannot be updated to refused.

Making Expense Payments

There are different actions you can take on an expense request submitted by your co-parent to you. To respond, go to Expenses.

Tap the Make Payment button to record a payment toward an approved Expense you owe.
Review the details of the Expense. The total you owe will automatically calculate. You can adjust the total to make a partial payment toward an Expense.
Select your Payment Method
- Check/Other: Select this payment method if you are making your payment by any means outside of OurFamilyWizard: cash, check, money order, peer-to-peer payment platform, etc.
- OFWpay: OFWpay is the online transaction system integrated with your OurFamilyWizard account. Using OFWpay, you and your co-parent can send and receive secure electronic payments that the site will thoroughly document for you.
- Learn More: What's the difference between the payment methods "Check/Other" and "OFWpay"?
- Learn More: How do I make and document payments?
Enter Optional Details
- Payment Number: Add details such as check number.
Tap the Pay button to submit your Expense payment.

Tip! You can pay multiple expenses at once by tapping the blue + button in the Expense Log. Then, select Make Payment. Then, tap all of the Open Expenses you would like to pay. The Expenses will automatically be calculated into a single payment.

Need Help?

Review frequently asked questions and watch more Expenses Tutorials here.