The concept of a dedicated site for messaging, calendars, and info (contact for doctor, school, insurance, etc) is solid. However, the execution is extremely poor. OFW would be right at home in the 1990s hosted on GeoCities.com (complete with an animated "under construction" gif).
OFW's business model relies on judges ordering litigants to pay the website's fee and utilize it for the 18 years it takes to raise a child. However, it feels like OFW has failed to update their UI even a single time over the last decade+.
Besides the UI, the site is glitchy. Off hand:
1) The feature that notifies you via text/email of new messages works about 40% of the time.
2) Despite a dropdown menu to select a time zone, it only offers "America/Chicago."
3) Messages are not easily searchable.
4) Creating an ongoing thread for a single topic is difficult (for instance, if the other party doesn't reply to a message, there is no feature to follow up and include the prior message which lacks a response).
Generally, time has just past by this website as it stood still. OFW seems to view this venture as passive income. A dedicated gmail account complete with shared calendars would be easier, have more features, be less expensive, and consistently work.
Alas, for folks who are not tech-savvy (read: can barely use email and still have a hotmail account... but not in an ironic/hipster way), this website offers a minimal value. It tells your sent messages have been read and when the other party last logged into their OFW account.
I'm amazed OFW is still in business. They are probably limping along because very few people want to go back to court to modify their parenting order but nobody knows how much it sucks until they are ordered to sign up. OFW is a mess.
I like the concept but very poorly executed. It wouldn't surprise me if their official business model predicted their imminent demise and they've already voted to not invest funds for improvements or maintenance.
Do some research and find an alternative that meets your needs. Lots of value in this idea and the market seems open for competition.
Much more than messaging, keeps the family organized.
Overview
OurFamilyWizard has a rating of 1.5 stars from 102 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers dissatisfied with OurFamilyWizard most frequently mention customer service, court order and high conflict. OurFamilyWizard ranks 24th among Divorce sites.
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- Sitejabber’s sole mission is to increase online transparency for buyers and businesses
- Sitejabber has helped over 200M buyers make better purchasing decisions online
- Suspicious reviews are flagged by our algorithms, moderators, and community members
Hello - Thank you for reaching out. You will always be notified about new activity in our account immediately if you select “On Action” for your email and text message notifications. Push notifications via the OFW mobile apps for iOS and Android will also notify you immediately every single time you receive a new entry to view or other activity is waiting for you to view on OFW. The factor that might affect the receipt of your email, text, or push notifications is the reliability of your internet connection and/or data for your mobile device.
The timezone drop-down menu is related to the address that you have associated with your account, and you are automatically provided with the option that relates to that address. You'll only see “America/Chicago” as your timezone option if the address you provided is in a state located solely in the Central time zone.
You can search for messages by keyword using the search bar at the top-right corner of the Message Board in the full version of the website. It will search both the subject lines and body text of your messages and show you the results of your search based on the keyword you entered. I understand that sending a reply to a message you sent in OFW may help you to send follow up messages to your co-parent if they did not reply to your original message. In this situation, you can send a new message that refers back to the message you had previously sent. Your co-parent’s first viewed history for any message you send to them will always be maintained, as will the history of any replies made to your messages. You can also easily download and print your messages to share with your family law practitioners.
OFW is frequently recommended by practitioners and ordered by family courts across the U.S. and Canada. While many parents may use OFW by court order, many others find and choose to use this toolset entirely on their own. Unlike free services, OFW is built to keep your information highly secure and preserves an accurate record of your communication indefinitely. You’ll never run into hidden fees to access or print detailed reports of your information. You’ll also never be presented with advertisements as you use your account, which may happen with free services.
Our development team continuously works on maintaining and updating both our web and mobile applications, and I will pass along your comments for consideration as we continue to update our technology.
Our dedicated customer support team is available seven days a week and is ready to answer your technical questions and walk you through any of the app’s features. They can be reached at info@ourfamilywizard.com or toll-free at (866) 755-9991.