Finishing onboarding

This article explains the last steps of setting up your SharedAnchor account. It covers your profile, the e-sign consent step, and how to use SharedAnchor on your own before your co-parent joins. If you have not created your account or invited your co-parent yet, start with the getting started article first.

Complete your profile

The profile step asks for your full name so your shared records show who added each item. Type your name into the Full name field, then choose Continue to save it. This name appears on shared expenses, payments, and reports, and you can change it later in Settings.

Give e-sign consent

The next step is the E-SIGN consent screen, headed "Before you can send payments." It explains that federal law, the E-SIGN Act, asks for your agreement before SharedAnchor sends dispute notices and account records to you electronically. Read the disclosure shown on the screen, then choose the button that agrees and continues, which reads Accept and continue. If you would rather have paper copies, use the "Need a paper copy?" link on that screen to request them.

What e-sign consent does and does not do

Consenting means you agree to receive dispute notices and account records electronically instead of on paper. That is the full scope of this step, and it does not move any money or change what you owe. You can request paper copies at any time, so agreeing now does not lock you out of paper later.

Use solo mode before your co-parent joins

You do not have to wait for your co-parent to join before you start using SharedAnchor. Solo mode means you can log expenses on your own before your co-parent joins your pair. When you are solo, the submit action is labeled Log expense, and it saves the expense to your own history. Logging expenses early means your history is ready and waiting the moment your co-parent joins. For the full step-by-step, see the track an expense article.

What happens once your co-parent joins

Once your co-parent joins and your pair is active, new expenses go to your co-parent for review instead of straight into your history. At that point the submit action changes to Submit for approval or Submit Expense so your co-parent can approve or decline each one. Expenses you logged while solo stay in your history and are not lost when your co-parent joins.

What happens next

After you finish your profile and give e-sign consent, you land on your Home screen. From there you can invite your co-parent if you have not already, and start logging expenses solo. When your co-parent accepts the invite, your pair becomes active and the review flow turns on.

Troubleshooting

If the profile step will not let you continue, check that your Full name field has between 1 and 100 characters. If the E-SIGN screen says the disclosure was updated, review the new text and choose Accept and continue again. If you are alone and see no approval step, that is expected, because you can log expenses solo until your co-parent joins.