“We had multiple houses, cars, a boat and a baby,” Sheri Atwood says. “But we were able to work it out, file and do everything ourselves. What no one told me about was that yeah, divorce is bad. But things get really bad after the divorce.” Atwood worked as a vice president of a major technology firm when she was going through her divorce, but the stress and new responsibilities she experienced after the divorce led her to give up that role. And this happened despite her divorce being amicable.
The challenges she and her now ex-husband faced included finding a reliable child support payment system. Atwood found herself having to leave meetings to deal with disputes and other post-divorce drama that constantly interfered with her workday. Through that experience Atwood created SupportPay, an app to help parents manage the challenges and headaches of a post-divorce life. The app is available to parents as well as employers who can add it as a benefit.
“Companies claim to be family friendly, they claim to care about financial well-being and mental well-being, but they have this huge audience of employees and families that aren't getting specific benefits that they need,” Atwood says. “When it comes to the parents that are most stressed, they have the least amount of help.”