Why a Florida Law Attorney Says TalkingParents Promotes Honesty
Sean White is the founding attorney of Panther Law, P.A. in Zephyrhills, Florida. After a career in law enforcement, he transitioned to law school and launched his own practice in 2023, bringing firsthand experience with conflict resolution and evidence documentation into the legal field. White now handles both criminal defense and family law cases, with a particular focus on custody disputes, domestic violence injunctions, and parenting plan negotiations.
- 4 min read
Simplifying communication for clients, counsel, and courts
White says he first learned about TalkingParents when the opposing counsel recommended it during a high-conflict custody case. After looking into the app and even trying the features firsthand with his wife, he quickly added it to his go-to recommendations for clients working with his practice. White says the counties in his part of Florida and beyond often recommend the co-parenting service in a range of family law cases.
“If there’s any domestic violence or allegations of child abuse, the courts almost always introduce TalkingParents and require parents to use it going forward—the judges around here love it. I’ve had instances where the opposing party in a case didn’t want to use it, and the judges around here basically look at them and ask what it is they’re trying to hide because there’s no reason not to use it.”
In White’s local area, Florida judges often set more detailed stipulations on how TalkingParents should be used by specifying what parents can and can’t discuss through the app.
“In addition to setting a 24-hour response window for messages, judges sometimes require that parents only use it to talk about their children, and that other matters go through their legal professionals. Even in emergencies, judges will say that parents need to notify each other through TalkingParents. We’ve had situations where people have made up an emergency just to harass the other parent, so if a judge says that TalkingParents is how they’re supposed to communicate, then that’s that.”
While TalkingParents is consistently introduced for complex cases in his area, White shares that he recommends the app in virtually every family law case he supports, even when co-parents appear to have a cooperative relationship.
“I always want to add it, even in amicable situations. The issue with family law is that parents who are together don’t always agree on how to raise their children. As soon as you add a divorce into that, it goes from being an argument one day to a dragged-out conflict that’s possibly brought into court. So even if parents are working together, I still get them on TalkingParents. If they’re communicating and working well, then that’s awesome. But when the day comes that something doesn’t work and communication breaks down, we’ll have the record.”
Encouraging honesty through documentation
After dealing with evidence as a law enforcement officer and legal professional, White emphasizes that TalkingParents goes above and beyond in helping co-parents automatically gather documentation that avoids typical do-it-yourself pitfalls.
“The problem with clients documenting potential evidence on their own is that we typically see them do so through text messages. Those don’t give us a clear picture of everything that happened, especially when we get screenshots that are missing content or timestamps. If we do end up going to court, it can be a pain to get information from either party about the missing details. With TalkingParents, it’s all clear—there’s no issue determining when messages were sent or what was said before and after because it’s all handled on the app.”
White says the most significant impact he sees with documentation through TalkingParents is a shift in honesty across the board, not just between himself and his clients.
The immediate thing that we notice is that people tend to be more honest: our clients are more honest with us, and the opposing counsels have to be more honest as well. Having that transparency on all sides really changes the dynamics of those relationships. As the saying goes, there’s your side, my side, and then somewhere in the middle is the truth. TalkingParents really helps us get to the middle because it shows what was actually said or done, which is a much easier place to work from.
While the process can seem combative with two sides working against each other, White believes that using records makes litigation feel more collaborative by creating a level playing field for both counsels.
“Both attorneys in a family law case often work with different facts. We’re able to reach more agreements and settle things more easily when the facts are better known. So if my opposing counsel and I know the same facts and meet in the same place, it’s a lot easier for us to narrow it down to the core problem or resolve it since we’re not trying to determine who’s telling the truth about what was said.”
Advice
When it comes to family law cases, White’s main piece of advice is to implement TalkingParents as early as possible, rather than waiting for conflict to arise.
“There’s always going to be contentions at some point. Having the TalkingParents app can really help prevent those issues. Or at the very least, if you do have those issues, you’re able to get the documentation that you need into court. One of the first things I always recommend to my clients is to download the app, send it to the other party to get it set up, and get used to using it.”
If a client is concerned about being documented, White recommends reframing the app as a safeguard rather than a spotlight.
“I’ve had clients who come in and don’t know if they want everything they say to be tracked—they worry about what happens if they say something wrong. And I have to remind them that they’re people, they’re parents, and we don’t expect perfection. We just want to know what’s going on and be able to easily explain it to a judge. Or if they mess up and I see it, then we can address it and resolve things before the issue goes to a hearing. What matters most is in the best interests of the children, and supporting their interests is easier when we know what’s said, what both parties are saying, and can work things out without too much court intervention.”