OurFamilyWizardReviews 111

As someone dealing with a high-conflict divorce and co-parent, I had high hopes for OFW. Having a tool that allows scheduling, payments and documented communications all on a single platform is a great idea. Unfortunately, while OFW addresses these goals, it does it so poorly as to be of little to no actual value.

From a purely technical standpoint, this service is terrible. The platform is outdated, and the user interface makes completing even the simplest of tasks unnecessarily complicated and difficult. I would totally expect this to be a free app or some coding student's first college project from 1999, just based on how bare-bones and riddled with operating problems it is. The exorbitant cost for the service is definitely not reinvested in bringing the platform up-to-date, or making it more stable and user-friendly.

The worst part is that customer service and tech support seem to only offer canned generalizations instead of actual solutions. You tell them a feature has a replicable bug, or that a process has a template/form assigned that does not actually provide space for the information needed, and they respond with an irrelevant spiel about how many other great features the service supposedly offers. What good are more features if they aren't in good working order?

OurFamilyWizard would do well to invest in some UX testing. As it stands, there is absolutely no value to this service that is not well exceeded by a ton of FREE co-parenting and general-usage organization apps out there. Unfortunately, the company has no incentive to make improvements when courts continue to order it be used, whether it works well or not.

In short, if you're ordered to use a communication service, check with the mediator or judge to see if you can use one of the newer, more reputable free co-parenting apps out there instead. And if you're fortunate enough not to be ordered to use OFW specifically, by all means, avoid it. The value just isn't there.

This wretched site offers all the right options for a seasoned parental alienator to do their best work. Not getting what you want? ADD the child to witness all parental interactions regarding custody, if a good parent just wants to opt out of the abuse as OFW does nothing during back and forth interactions and not re-up their subscription... that right is also taken away by OFW allowing the rotten coparent to reup a subscription for a year allowing an alienating parent to maintain both accounts and not communicating on any other platform, using missed communications as a reason for no drop offs and no visits for the victim. The children take a front row seat to this whole thing. OH!, and anyone else want to join the fight and silently witness every single interaction each parent has without one or the other even knowing? OFW offers that too. An entire Christmas was enjoyed solely by a parental alienating mother, who told her children their father was not interested in seeing them, not mentioning she had turned her alerts off and reported to the father after new years that OFW malfunctioned. But almost a year later we are almost over this in therapy sessions. But this father is not able to cancel his subscription to this jacked up manipulators paradise... she resubscribed for us! Let the abuse go ON!

I was hesitant to use the app after reading the "poor" reviews until I noticed how critical the comments were and people complaining about being "forced" to use it. While not all courts are perfect, there is generally some reason why it would be ordered, and that's usually to protect the children or one of the parents.

I wasn't "forced" to use it but do see how it helps my children and everyone knows what is going on. In my case the "other" parent is verbally abusive, accuses people of things, and is inconsistent. This website helps me, and the tone meter feature helps keep me cool, as well as keeps us focused on the kids.

So far I've had one interaction with customer service, and they were friendly, helpful, and answered my question very quickly. I was very happy with their service. I can imagine if one of the people writing the critical review interacted with them in the same way they wrote their review, it would be understandable they had a bad experience. You get what you give.

Keep up the good work Our Family Wizard! Thank you for adding a layer of help for those of us who need it!

My ex-husband insisted that we use this. I refused saying we could do the same with a dedicated gmail account and google calendar for free. He insisted so the judge ordered it, and ordered him to pay for it for both of us. What a waste of money, the only good thing is that it's not my money that's being wasted. My ex is still nasty, abusive and bullying in the messages. He still asks endlessly about when he has the kids, even though it's on the calendar. He still refuses to pay child support or medical bills, even though they're logged in the expense register. OFW Is not going to magically change things, and I didn't think it would. But the actual design is what gets me. It reminds me of something designed last century. It's not very intuitive or smart. Everything is just clunky.

Ive been using Ourfamilywizard for more than 2 years requested by the court. The application is a complete waste of money, and their customer service is a joke. After notifying the OFW customer service about my issue with the application several times, the customer service agent couldnt care less about my issue/concerns. I think, the company policy is to make money out of you with minimum effort on their end to fix or upgrade OFW application. I would give a friendly advice to everyone who wants to use OFW in future to stay away from this application; you rather use OPTIMAL or other competitors out there. Please dont give them business. I would hardly give OFW 1 out of 10.

The tech support on this site is a joke. They will not assist you, they will however make you feel like you are the problem.
I've had to use this program for a few years. Something happened on their end and my bank account was labeled as "inactive". My account has not changed. However they insist that my bank account is closed. They refuse to even try to set it up again, and they refuse to refund my money. But they do insist that it's my fault.
Please use a different option than Our Family Wizard. This is a horrible experience.

My hope is that others avoid my mistake if it's an option -- I voluntarily agreed to use this program upon my lawyer's advice. Obviously he has never actually used it himself. Please avoid this product.

Poor design, glitchy and often unnecessarily difficult to navigate. They don't stand by their product. When I reported one error I came across regarding the app reporting false dates that messages had been sent and received, the error persisted for over a month. They refused to provide any sort of compensation when I inquired. I guess they had my money a year in advance, so why bother to stand behind their product?

Don't waste your money when there are so many free options that accomplish the task more efficiently and reliably. Use google's suite of products for free (gmail, calendar). Send your money via e-transfers for free or a nominal fee. They do a much better job, and oh yeah, did I mention they're free? Save your money for more important things in life like clothing, sports, food and family events.

When I 1st started using myfamilywizard I thought it was going to be a joke. Another thing the court asked me to do and pay for. But I've been using it for years with my Ex, and it's been well worth it. Our kids are always the focus on the app. We don't get into the weeds everytime we change the schedule or deal with money. I get what people are saying who give it negative reviews because they don't like having to do it, but speaking from experience, USE IT! It will save you and your kids (and maybe your ex) a lot of headaches. I think the iPhone app is simple and works well for me. I've called help line a couple times over the years and a real person answered and helped me out. I'd say it gets a bad wrap because people aren't happy about having to use it, but it's really invaluable. I just don't worry about the game playing anymore like I did years ago. I think familywizard is a big part of that.

Our Family Wizard is likely another tool developed by lawyers, for lawyers. It dissuades adults from having face to face interactions about something that, likely, isn't too important. Their children. The court has ordered me to use it, even though I went to court as the plaintiff against my wife for violating our custody order. Now she violates our interim custody order as well, endorsed by the court, in her actions. This app or program actually dissuades adults from acting like adults and speaking to one another in an adult fashion. That this is endorsed by courts, lawyers, behavioral professionals or anyone clear thinking for that matter is an indictment on how far humanity has swayed from actually being able to have face to face interactions. It's mere existence is problematic. Social media forums, in general, are to exist to supplement communication, not take its place. If possible I would file suit against this company for being an accessory to the destruction of my relationship with my children. It's an abomination and that I was forced to pay for it is yet another criminal act perpetrated by those I look to for equality and justice. Communication about one's children isn't supposed to be litigated, or mitigated. It is supposed to be "in the best interests of the children." OFW provides kickbacks to municipalities that choose to utilize this website. There should be a class-action suit filed against this company for anti-trust law violations. Despite being a victim of parental alienation syndrome I am the one ordered to this site with the threat of incarceration. Since I was left I have been called 'defendant, obligor, and non-custodial parent', all of which are inaccurate and defamatory but no lawyer would take my case as they are in on the family court corruption. This site is garbage. Everyone who works for this company should be ashamed of themselves. They facilitate the chasm that exists between two people that should not be encumbered by anyone. When they are shut down I will do a cartwheel.

Awesome for accountability when in high conflict situations. I am a step parent where my spouse is dealing with severe alienation, fraud, forgery, medical collections and unilateral legal decisions for his child made by his ex.

The other parent cannot delete messages, add events to the calendar after the fact nor fudge medical expenses. You can clearly see who logs in and who doesn't and who is cooperative and who isn't.

He had this added via court order when she was hiding bills from him and agreed to pay for both parties. If you are experiencing any degree of financial, emotional or verbal abuse from your ex: Our Family Wizard is highly recommended! You cannot stop the crazy but you can manage it.

This app has features that are either difficult to use or do not work at all. Calling Support to resolve these issues doesn't seem to get the makers improve the logistics of this app.
Its a total waist of money.

I wish I could give this 0 stars. This whole website/app could be avoided by use of a simple shared google calendar. This $119 per year is ridiculous, I can think of much better ways to use that money. We use this because we were mandated to, but once that is over, we will be using common sense and a google calendar (with read receipts) that does the exact same thing - for free!
It's a shame that courts mandate this, divorce is expensive enough.

I am court ordered to use this site. Technically, the site is confusing and difficult to navigate. I have encountered glitches too numerous to recount. The last one was that the site suddenly would not accept payment from me for the Health Premiuims I have been paying for years. I left a message requesting assistance -- received NO response. I had to call them again myself. In the last call I made, the customer service rep chastised me for my attitude & complained that I was trying to start an argument! I informed him that I do not like the site, and use it only because I am court ordered to do so, and that consumers get frustrated when paying for a service that does not provide what they are paying for. I have been on that site for 5 years or better, and the disrespect of customer service employees is the last straw for me. DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE IF YOU HAVE A CHOICE.