INSIGHTS Why More Expensive Apps Might Be Promoted by Professionals Affiliate commission relationships line pockets and create conflicts

Promoting Expensive Apps:
Who's Benefiting? Like us, many of our readers are co-parents, either divorced, separated or going through a divorce. That means that we share a common trait: time and money are extremely valuable resources.

We often hear that some professionals will recommend just one co-parenting app to a family to encourage better collaboration. In high-conflict cases, some families might actually receive a legally binding court order - forcing both spouses to download and pay for that one co-parenting app.

The trouble begins here. Why is it that usually only one app is recommended or mandated by a court? Why does it also happen to be the same app that costs you and your co-parent $198 per year or more to use?

Is it that courts and professionals are uninformed? They only know of one co-parenting app?

Is this app so super amazing that co-parents must cough up $198 every year just to comply?

Or, is there something else going on?

Affiliate commission sharing is the process when an app company pays for referrals. So, in the current example, ( let's call it App company 'Warlock' ) App Warlock charges $198 for for two adults to use it's calendar, chat, expenses and payments tools (payments will cost more actually).
Then App Warlock makes a deal with a professional (let's say a family attorney in this example) to give the pro a 25% commission for every co-parent that the attorney brings in to App Warlock.

An attorney is then motivated to make exclusive recommendations to co-parents to download only App Warlock. An attorney can even submit pre-drafted court orders for a judge to sign, legally forcing downloads of the Warlock app in high conflict cases.

App Warlock makes about $150 on each case and the attorney pockets $50. So, if a law firm promotes or drafts court orders for App Warlock on say, 500 cases a year - that's an extra $25,000 per year in their pocket, and we are none the wiser. This is a potentially suitability conflict. Who is the Warlock app really benefiting, the consumer, or the attorney?

If you know of a family member or friend who was forced to pay for an expensive co-parenting app through a court order or some other method, tell them they have a right to a choice and they don't have to download the most expensive apps in the market. Time and money are both worth saving.

Co-parents, Beware.