Keep track of expenses

Expenses is a shared record of what the children cost: what was spent, who paid, how the two of you split it, and whether a share somebody asked for has been paid back. Both parents see the same list.

Coparia records payments. It never moves money, and it never works out who owes whom on its own. A share is only owed once somebody asks for it, and every total you see is made of requests a parent actually sent.

Before you start. You need to be a parent in the family. Adding and changing expenses is part of a paid plan; reading them never is. See what happens on the free plan.

Find it

Open Expenses from the menu. It sits just above Journal, on the web and in the phone app.

A red dot beside Expenses means something is waiting on you: a request to pay back a share, or a support payment that is due.

At the top of the page are two totals:

You asked is what you have asked the other parent to pay back and they have not answered yet.
Asked of you is what the other parent has asked you to pay back and you have not answered yet.

Each one is the sum of open requests, and nothing else. A request drops out of the total once it is answered or canceled. A share that nobody asked for is not in either number, because only the parent who paid gets to decide whether to ask for it.

Add an expense

Open Expenses.
Select +, then Add an expense.
Enter the amount, what it was, and the date.
Choose the type and the category (both explained below).
Choose which children it was for, and who paid.
Check the split. It starts with your family’s usual split, and you can change it for this one expense.
Save it. If you paid and want your share back, you can Ask to pay back in the same step.

Select an expense to see its details: the amount, the date, the type, the category, who it was for, who paid, the provider’s tax ID, the split, any request, the receipt and your notes. Everything you can do with it is under Actions: Edit, Ask to pay back, Remind, Cancel the request, Mark as paid back, Mark paid and Delete.

Types: shared, support and record

The type says how the money moves.

Shared is spent on the children and split between the parents: the dentist, a school trip, new shoes.
Support is one parent paying the other, such as child support or alimony. It is due or paid, and it is never split.
Record is a parent logging their own spending. Nothing is split and nothing is asked of anyone. Use it when you want a record of what you spent without asking for anything back.

Splits and your family’s usual split

A split says how much of a shared expense each parent is responsible for. It can be by percent, or by amount for a parent who puts in a fixed sum. Either way it has to add up to 100%, or to the whole expense, before it saves.

Set the split you usually use once, and every new shared expense starts with it:

Open Settings, then Expenses.
Under Your usual split, choose 50/50, By percent or By amount.
Save it.

Either parent can change it, and the other parent is told when they do. A new usual split applies to expenses added from then on. Expenses you already have keep the split they were saved with.

Coparia does not read your parenting plan or court order. If yours says something specific about who pays for what, the split is where you put that in, expense by expense or as your usual.

Keep the receipt with it

An expense can carry a receipt: a photo, a PDF, a scan of the bill. Add one while adding or editing the expense. Receipts are seen by parents only, and they count toward your plan’s storage, the same as journal attachments.

Expenses that repeat

Daycare every month, a lesson every week, a support payment on the 1st. Set an expense to repeat weekly, every other week, monthly or yearly, with an end date if it has one.

Each time it comes around is its own expense, with its own status. August’s support payment can be paid late while September’s was paid on time, and the record shows both. When you edit or delete one, Coparia asks whether you mean this one or the series.

You can give a repeating expense a due day and a reminder. The reminder goes to whoever pays it.

Ask to be paid back

When you paid for something shared, you can ask the other parent to pay back their share.

Open the expense.
Under Actions, select Ask to pay back. You can also do this when you first save it.

The other parent is told, and the expense shows Paid back requested until they answer.

While you wait, the expense says who you asked and for how much. Under Actions you can Remind them, which sends the request again, or Cancel the request if it was a mistake or you sorted it out another way.

If you were paid back, you don’t have to wait for the other parent to say so. Under Actions, select Mark as paid back and say how much, when, and how. The expense shows Paid back, with Marked paid back by you under the request, and the other parent is told. You can’t answer I don’t agree for them. That answer is theirs.

If you change the expense, the request keeps up. Change the amount, the split or who paid, and Coparia withdraws the request and asks again for the new share, or just withdraws it if nothing is owed now. A statement holding the expense is sent again for the new total. If you typed a different amount on that statement, it comes back to you as a draft to check, because Coparia never sends an amount you did not choose. The form says what saving will update before you save. The other parent gets one notification about it. Once a share has been paid back, what is owed on it can’t change, but you can still change the name, notes or category.

Answer a request

When the other parent asks you to pay back a share, you get a notification and the red dot on Expenses. Open the expense and choose one:

I paid it back. Say how much, when, and how: Venmo, Zelle, Cash, Check or Other, with a note if you like. You can pay back part of it, and the expense shows the amount you paid.
I don’t agree. Say why. The other parent sees your reason.

Either answer is sent to the parent who asked. Paying the money happens outside Coparia, however you two usually do it. Coparia keeps the record of it.

If the parent who asked marks it paid back first, you are told, and the expense says who marked it. There is nothing left for you to answer.

What each status means

Due: a support payment or a repeating expense that has not been paid yet.
Paid: it has been paid.
Paid back requested: somebody asked for their share and is waiting for an answer.
Paid back: the share was paid back. A partial amount shows how much.
Not agreed: the other parent did not agree, and said why.

Reconcile at the end of the month

Instead of asking for each expense one at a time, you can gather a month of them into one statement and send a single request.

Open Expenses.
Select the three dots at the top of the page, then Reconcile.
Choose the period: this month, last month, or your own dates.
Check the list.

The statement lists every shared expense you paid in that period that has not been asked for or paid back yet, ticked, with the other parent’s share by that expense’s own split. Untick anything you do not want to ask for.

It also lists what the other parent paid in the same period, with your share of each, unticked. A switch, Subtract what I owe for what the other parent paid (it shows their name), is off to start with. Turn it on if you want to take those off your request. Coparia never does that for you: it is your choice, every time.

The total at the bottom is what you will ask for. To ask for a different figure, select Enter a different amount.

Select Send. The other parent gets one request for the whole statement and answers it the same way as any other: I paid it back or I don’t agree. The expenses in it are marked as part of that statement, so they are never asked for twice. If you were paid back for a statement you sent, open it and select Mark as paid back.

A statement ready on the 1st

Turn on Monthly statement in Settings, then Expenses, and on the 1st of each month Coparia prepares last month’s statement for you, if there is anything in it, and tells you it is ready.

It is never sent on its own. Open it, check it, change it if you need to, and send it yourself.

Download a monthly statement

You can take any month of expenses away as a PDF, to keep, print, or send to somebody who helps you with taxes or paperwork.

Open Expenses.
Select the three dots at the top of the page, then Download a report. It is there on every plan.
Choose the month. Last month is chosen for you; you can also pick this month, any month that has expenses, or Custom range for your own dates.
Select Download. On the phone, the share sheet opens so you can save it to Files or send it.

The PDF lists every expense in the period by date, with who paid, how it was split, where it stands (due, paid, asked for, paid back, or in a statement), the provider’s tax ID when one was recorded, and the names of the receipts. It ends with the totals: what was spent, by category and by child, what each parent paid next to their share, and You asked and Asked of you for that period. Those are sums of what was recorded. The PDF never works out a balance between you.

To download one statement as it was sent, open it from Statements and select Download PDF.

Both parents can download, whatever your plan. Helpers cannot.

Import from a bill or receipt

Bills arrive as PDFs and receipts as photos. Coparia can read one and draft the expenses for you, so you check them instead of typing them.

Open Expenses.
Select +, then Import from a bill or receipt.
Choose a photo, take one with the camera, or choose a file. PDFs work.
Check what it found. Each charge comes back as a draft with the amount, date, who it was from, the category, the child and any due date. Anything Coparia was unsure about arrives unticked.
Fix anything that is wrong, right there in the list.
Select Add, which says how many expenses it will save. Only the ticked ones are saved.

Nothing is saved until you select Add. Keep the bill with the expense is on to start with, and keeps the file you imported as the receipt.

When a daycare, school or camp prints its EIN or Tax ID on the bill, Coparia copies it into the expense’s Tax ID, ready for tax time. You can also type one yourself under Paid to when you add or edit an expense.

You can also hand a bill to Copie, the assistant: “add this receipt” with the photo attached gets you the same drafts. See ask Copie.

From another app on your phone. Open the bill or receipt in Mail, Files, Photos or your browser, tap the share button, and choose Coparia. On an iPhone, Coparia asks whether to Add an expense or Add to the calendar. Choose Add an expense.

Reading a bill uses up one of your plan’s bill imports for the billing period. Your plan and what is left are under Settings, then Plans. Bill imports are counted separately from calendar imports and from questions to Copie.

Who sees what

Both parents see every expense, every split, every request and every answer. There is no private expense.

Helpers see no expenses at all. Expenses are not on their menu, and nothing about the family’s money reaches them. See who can see what.

Notifications

You are told when somebody asks you to pay back a share, when your request is answered, when the parent who asked marks your share paid back, when a reminder is sent, when a payment you make is due, and when the other parent changes the usual split. You are never told about something you did yourself.

Choose how these reach you under Settings, then Notifications, then Expenses: in the app, by email, both, or not at all.

On the phone with no signal

The phone app keeps your expenses on the phone, so you can read them with no connection. Adding, changing, asking and answering need a connection, and the app says so while you are offline. See use the phone app without a signal.

If your plan changes

Adding and changing expenses, asking to be paid back, sending a statement, changing the usual split and importing a bill are part of a paid plan.

If your family moves to the free plan, nothing is deleted. You can still read every expense, see the totals, answer a request, remind, cancel or mark paid back a request you sent, download a monthly statement, and download all of it in your family record. What stops is adding new ones. See change your plan.

When it does not work

The split will not save. The shares have to add up to 100%, or to the whole amount. Check the numbers on each parent.

The totals look wrong. They are only open requests. A shared expense you paid and did not ask for is not in You asked. Ask for it, or reconcile the month.

An expense is missing from a statement. It was already asked for, already paid back, or already part of another statement. Coparia leaves those out so nothing is asked twice.

Expenses is not in your menu. You are a helper in this family, not a parent. Only parents see expenses.

The import found the wrong amount. It reads what is on the page. A bill with an amount billed, an amount insurance paid and an amount you owe has three numbers on it. Fix the amount on the draft before you add it.

Open this in Coparia, where you can search every article and ask about your own calendar.