If you work with separating families, you already know the pattern. Communication between the parties is where the conflict lives, the standard advice is to move it onto a co-parenting app, and the party sending the hostile messages is exactly the party who won’t agree to use one. The tool sits empty while the hostility carries on.
FenceChat is built the other way around. It works on one side only. Your client gets a FenceChat email address, and a FenceChat number on the SMS plans. The other party sends to it like any normal email or phone. A language filter removes the hostility, the facts are forwarded to your client, and every original message is kept in their encrypted Archive, with the date and time it arrived. The other party installs nothing and has no account.
Because it runs on your client’s side, they can also shape it to their situation. Beyond a sensitivity setting, they can guide the filter from their own Archive, keeping anything the filter over-removed and filtering out anything hurtful that slipped through, so it fits the specific person they are dealing with. Those choices are private to their account, and whatever the settings, a threat is always flagged and shown as one plain line rather than softened.
Articles for professionals
Plain-language articles written for the people who advise and support separating families, to help you understand FenceChat and explain it to clients. Read them, and request the Partner Pack when you are ready to introduce FenceChat in your practice.
The one-sided difference
Why a one-sided tool works when the other party won’t cooperate.
What to recommend to high-conflict co-parenting clients
What actually helps, and how to introduce it without escalating.
Message archives as evidence in family court
Why a continuous archive beats screenshots, and its limits.
Communicating under an AVO or intervention order
Keeping permitted contact limited, factual and on record.
Communication tools for family dispute resolution
Lowering hostile between-session contact in FDR.
For separation and divorce coaches
Removing the provocation so the skills you teach hold.
Filtered, not erased: the message record
What filtering changes, what is kept, and how to check an export.
OurFamilyWizard or FenceChat?
Matching the tool to the client and the case.
Communication terms in parenting plans and orders
Common terms, where they break down, and where FenceChat fits.
Where family violence is a concern
What to weigh before recommending any communication tool.
Getting message records into a matter
Exports, subpoenas, ICLs and report writers.
What the other party is told
The one-time notice, and why FenceChat was built to be open.Accountability and complaints handling
FenceChat is operated by ROHAJO Pty Ltd t/a FenceChat, an Australian company (ABN 94 699 691 640). So you can refer clients knowing how we’re held to account.
- Independent complaints. We are a member of the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman. If a client’s complaint isn’t resolved with us, they can take it to the TIO, free.
- Published policies. Our complaints, family violence and payment assistance policies, and the key facts for every plan, are public. We acknowledge complaints within 2 working days.
- Privacy. We handle personal information under Australian privacy law. Our main database is in Sydney, and the providers that process information overseas are listed in our privacy policy. Privacy complaints can go to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
- Online safety. Our online safety page explains how anyone can report harmful material and how we respond to the eSafety Commissioner.
- Legal process. Our information requests page sets out how we respond to subpoenas, provide certified copies and hold records.
- Security. Messages are encrypted per account, staff access is logged, and anyone can report a security problem to us.
Questions practitioners ask
Does the other party have to agree to use FenceChat?
No. FenceChat works on your client’s side only. The other party keeps using ordinary email and text messages, and installs and signs up to nothing. See the one-sided difference.
If hostile words are removed, has my client lost evidence?
No. The original message is kept beside the filtered version, sealed into the Archive in order, and a check of an export shows any removal. See filtered, not erased.
Will it look as if my client is hiding something?
The other party gets a one-time notice that their messages are processed by AI and stored by FenceChat, and everything they send is kept as they wrote it. See what the other party is told.
What if the AI changes what was said?
The filter takes out hostile wording and keeps the facts, and the original is always kept. Pattern labels describe the wording of a message, not a person. See filtered, not erased.
Is it suitable where family violence is a concern?
FenceChat only filters messages sent to its own user and gives no one access to another person’s account or inbox. It is not a safety plan and won’t suit every situation. See where family violence is a concern.
Does it fit existing orders or a parenting plan?
To the other party, FenceChat is an ordinary email address or number. See communication terms in parenting plans and orders for the common terms and where it fits.
Will my client miss something urgent about the children?
Facts, times and arrangements are kept. If the filter can’t run for any reason, the message is delivered unfiltered with a note, rather than held back. See filtered, not erased.
How do I get the records, or subpoena FenceChat?
Your client can export their Archive from their Dashboard, and our information requests page sets out how we respond to subpoenas and certified copy requests. See getting message records into a matter.
Who can see the messages, and where are they kept?
Messages are encrypted per account and staff access is logged. Our main database is in Sydney, and overseas providers are listed in our privacy policy. See accountability and complaints handling.
Who pays?
Only the person using FenceChat. The other party pays nothing and signs up to nothing. See OurFamilyWizard or FenceChat.