Free tool · for co-parents splitting child costs
Free Co-Parenting Shared Expense Ledger
Two homes, one set of children, and a stream of costs one of you pays and the other agreed to share: the daycare invoice, the copay, the new cleats. This free ledger is one spreadsheet tab that keeps it straight. Log each shared expense and who paid it, set the one split the two of you agreed, and it works out each parent's share, what the other parent owes on every row, and a running balance that ends in one line — who owes whom, and how much. It opens on a worked quarter for an invented family so you can see what a filled-in ledger looks like before you type over it.
Take it with you — free, no signup
Direct download. No email, no account — just the file.
What it does
- Takes one agreed split — say 60/40 — and applies it to every expense you log, so nobody does the percentage math by hand.
- Works out each parent's share of every expense and what the parent who didn't pay owes the one who did.
- Keeps a running balance down the ledger and states the result in one sentence at the top: who owes whom, and how much.
- Totals what each parent has paid and what each parent's share comes to, so the two figures sit side by side.
- Records the date, what it was for, the category, the child, and where the receipt is kept, on every row.
- Ships pre-filled with the first three months of the paid workbook's own fictional example family, run at one 60/40 split, so nothing opens blank. Every name and figure in it is invented.
- Opens in Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice — no macros, no signup, and nothing saved anywhere but your own copy.
Related reading
Own it, don't rent it
When one percentage stops describing your agreement
This ledger applies one split to everything. If your agreement isn't that simple, the full workbook is built for it: a different split for each of 12 expense categories, with an exception for one child where you agreed one; payments paid back, including partial ones, netted into the same running balance in both directions; a day-by-day record of which parent actually had the children against the schedule, with each parent's share of the time; the odd/even-year holiday alternation worked out from the year; a dated message log, a document-request list and a checklist for exchange days; and a roll-up of the whole year a mediator or tax preparer can read. Eleven connected tabs, a printable guide and record pages, and a one-click Google Sheets copy both homes can share.
A file you buy once: no app account and no renewal. Keep your own copy, or share one Google Sheets copy between both homes.
Not advice: this ledger organizes records and does arithmetic on the figures you enter. It does not calculate child support, interpret a parenting plan or court order, or give legal, tax or financial advice — ask your attorney or mediator what applies to you. It is an editable spreadsheet, so treat it as your own organized notes. The example family is fictional. Free to use; please don't resell or redistribute.