Sovela Terms of Service

The agreement

These terms are an agreement between you and Covalent Families Inc. (“we”, “us”), a Delaware corporation, which makes Sovela. They cover the Sovela app, our websites (sovelaparents.com and sovelaparents.ca) and the Sovela console for professionals and organizations. By creating an account or using Sovela, you agree to these terms and to our Privacy Policy, which explains how we handle your information.

Who can use Sovela. You must be an adult: 18 or older, or the age of majority where you live. Sovela is offered to people living in the United States and Canada. Children may use a device a parent has paired for them (see Children’s devices), but can’t have their own accounts.

If you use Sovela for an organization, such as a law firm or a mediation practice, you agree to these terms for that organization and confirm you’re allowed to.

What Sovela is, and isn’t

Sovela helps co-parents learn and practise the skills of working together: lessons and coaching, a shared calendar, messages, records of expenses and exchanges, and a private space of your own.

Not legal advice. Sovela can explain what your parenting plan says and point to published, attorney-reviewed information about the law. That’s information, not legal advice, and using Sovela doesn’t create a lawyer-client relationship with us. For advice about your situation, talk to a lawyer where you live.
Not therapy or counselling. Lessons and coaching teach communication skills. They aren’t mental-health treatment.
Not an emergency service. If anyone is in danger, call 911 or your local emergency number. Sovela’s urgent message reaches the other parent, but it doesn’t contact emergency services.
Not a payment service. Sovela records payments you make elsewhere (for example by Venmo, Zelle, Interac e-Transfer, cheque or cash) and lets the other parent confirm them. We never hold or move money between parents.
Not a substitute for a court order. Sovela doesn’t change your parenting plan or any order. If the app and your order differ, the order governs.
Not a judge of anyone. Sovela counts and records; it doesn’t label, rate or score a parent.

Your account

Give accurate information, and keep your email address and phone number current, so sign-in codes and notices reach you.
Keep your devices, passkeys and codes to yourself. You’re responsible for what happens under your account. If you think someone else has got in, tell us right away at support@sovelaparents.com.
One person per account. Don’t create an account for someone else or use another parent’s account.
Sensitive actions, such as exporting records, giving a professional access or deleting data, ask for a second check (a passkey or second factor). This protects you; please don’t try to get around it.
Your account is kept in your family’s country. If you move, you can move your account, and the records move with it.

Two parents, one record

Sovela works best when both parents use it, and works for one parent alone too. When both parents are in a family, each has their own account, and some things are shared.

What’s shared (messages, the calendar and swaps, expenses and payments recorded, exchange check-ins, the parenting plan) is visible to both parents. Assume anything you send may one day be read by a judge.
What’s private (your notes, journal, vault and mood check-ins) is yours alone. The other parent can’t see it or tell it exists.
Shared records can’t be edited or quietly deleted. They’re kept in a tamper-evident chain, so neither parent can change what was said or when. If you close your account, your copy goes, but the other parent keeps the record of what you exchanged.
Exports. Either parent can export the records they can see, in a signed file anyone can check for changes. We don’t vouch for what was said in a record, only that the export matches what Sovela stored.
Urgent messages go through any quiet hours the other parent has set. Each use is recorded, and the other parent can flag one as not urgent. Please keep them for real urgencies.
Recording payments is a record of what you each say happened. The other parent can confirm or question it. Sovela doesn’t decide who owes what.

Children’s devices

A parent or legal guardian can pair a child’s device so the child sees their schedule, packing list, notes from parents, and a picture-based way to ask for things. By pairing a device, you confirm you are that child’s parent or legal guardian, and you consent, for the child, to what the pairing screen describes and the Privacy Policy explains.

Either parent in the family can pair a device for a shared child. The other parent can see that a device is paired and can remove it. Don’t use a child’s device to monitor or reach the other parent, and don’t write notes to a child about the other parent’s conduct. You’re responsible for supervising your child’s use.

Professionals and organizations

Mediators, attorneys, parenting coordinators and other professionals can use Sovela’s console to work with families who invite them.

Access only by a parent’s grant. A professional sees a family’s records only if a parent grants it, only what the grant covers, and only until it ends or is withdrawn. Some roles, such as a neutral working with both parents, need both parents’ agreement. Belonging to an organization never gives access to anyone’s family records.
Every access is logged. Each time a professional opens or exports family records, it’s written to a tamper-evident log that the family can rely on.
Professional duties stay yours. If you’re a professional, you’re responsible for your own professional obligations (confidentiality, conflicts, record-keeping and the rules of your licensing body). Sovela is a tool, not a party to your engagement with a client.
Organizations are responsible for who they add as members and the roles they give them, and for removing people who leave.

Organizations that buy seats may sign a separate agreement with us. If they do, it governs where it differs from these terms.

Your content

What you put into Sovela (messages, notes, documents, files) stays yours. You give us permission to store, copy, encrypt, transmit and display it only as needed to run Sovela for you: for example, to show your message to the other parent, to back it up, or to include it in an export you ask for. That permission ends when the content is deleted, except for copies we must keep by law and backups until they expire.

We don’t use your content to advertise to you, and we don’t use it, or let our providers use it, to train AI models.

You confirm you have the right to upload what you add, such as a parenting plan or a court document.

Our materials. Sovela’s lessons, coaching, design, software and the help library belong to us or our licensors. You may use them for your own family while you have an account. Don’t copy, resell or build a competing product from them.

Feedback. If you send us ideas or suggestions, we may use them without owing you anything.

Using Sovela fairly

Sovela is a place for two parents who may disagree to keep things calm and on the record. Please don’t use it to:

harass, threaten, stalk or intimidate the other parent, a child or anyone else, including by flooding them with messages or misusing urgent messages;
impersonate someone, or sign in to another person’s account;
upload things you don’t have the right to share, or anything unlawful, including sexual content involving minors;
try to see records you haven’t been given, get around security or the second-factor checks, or probe, scrape or overload our systems;
tamper with records or exports, or present an altered export as genuine;
use Sovela to monitor or track someone without their knowledge;
resell Sovela, or use it to build a competing service.

If you believe someone is misusing Sovela against you, tell us at support@sovelaparents.com. If there’s a protective order between you and the other parent, Sovela doesn’t enforce it. Follow its terms, and talk to your lawyer about whether using Sovela is appropriate.

AI features

Some features use AI to suggest a calmer way to say a message, explain your parenting plan, answer questions from published legal information, or answer help questions.

Suggestions, not decisions. You decide what to send. A suggestion can be wrong or miss something important. Read it before you use it; once you send it, it’s your message.
Answers quote their source. Plan and law answers must quote the plan or passage they rely on, and we check that the quote is really there. Still, an answer can misread or leave out context. Check the quoted words, and don’t rely on an answer as legal advice.
When AI is unavailable, Sovela falls back to its own rules, or tells you a question isn’t covered.

The Privacy Policy explains what text is sent to our AI provider and when.

Subscriptions and billing

Always free. These stay free, so neither parent can lose access to the shared record by not paying: messages and Refine’s own suggestions, the calendar and swaps, money records, your vault and timeline, urgent messages, and exporting your own record.

Paid plans. Coaching and some other features need a subscription. The price, what’s included and the billing period are shown before you buy. During our early period, paid features may be open to everyone at no charge. We’ll tell you before that changes, and nothing will be charged without your agreement.

Where you buy decides who bills you. In the iPhone app, Apple bills you, and Apple’s terms govern payment, renewal, cancellation and refunds. On the web, Stripe processes payment for us.
Renewal. Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each period until you cancel. Cancel any time: in your Apple ID settings for App Store purchases, or in Sovela’s Settings for web purchases. You keep access until the end of the paid period.
Refunds. Except where the law requires otherwise, payments aren’t refundable for partial periods. For App Store purchases, ask Apple.
Price changes. We’ll tell you in advance, and you can cancel before the new price applies.
Taxes are added where required.
Assistance. Free or reduced coaching is available through assistance programs, for those who qualify.
Organizations buying seats are billed as their order or agreement says.

Texts and notifications

If you add a mobile number, Covalent Families Inc. will text it sign-in codes and notices that a message is waiting. How often varies. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out or HELP for help. You can also remove your number in Settings, and sign in by email or passkey instead. Carriers aren’t liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

Texts and notifications deliberately don’t name Sovela or show content. Sovela confirms when a notification reached the other parent’s device, but a delivered message doesn’t mean it was read, and we can’t guarantee that any message or notification arrives on time.

Other services

Sovela can open or connect to services we don’t run: payment apps (such as Venmo, PayPal or Zelle) through a link, YNAB to choose shared expenses, and Clio to send records to an attorney’s system. Your use of those services is governed by their own terms. We aren’t responsible for them, and a connection lasts only until you disconnect it.

Apple. If you got Sovela from the App Store, Apple isn’t a party to these terms and isn’t responsible for the app or its support. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these terms and may enforce them against you. Your use of the app must also follow the App Store’s usage rules.

Ending your account

You can stop any time. Delete your account in Settings, or email us. Export your records first if you want a copy. Deletion is described in the Privacy Policy: your account and private space are deleted, while the other parent keeps the record of what you exchanged.

We may suspend or close an account that breaks these terms, puts someone at risk, or that the law requires us to act on. Where it’s safe and lawful, we’ll tell you why first and give you a chance to respond. Because shared records may matter in court, we’ll give you a reasonable chance to export your records before closing your account, unless the law or someone’s safety prevents it.

If we stop offering Sovela, we’ll give at least 90 days’ notice so you can export your records, and refund any prepaid time you haven’t used.

The sections on your content (our materials and feedback), disclaimers, liability, disputes and general terms continue after your account ends.

Disclaimers and limits

As is. We work hard to keep Sovela available, accurate and secure, but we provide it “as is” and “as available”. To the extent the law allows, we disclaim implied warranties, such as merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. We don’t promise Sovela will be uninterrupted or error-free, that any message will arrive on time, or that a court will accept a record or export.

Limit of liability. To the extent the law allows, Covalent Families Inc. isn’t liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost profits or data, arising from Sovela. Our total liability for any claim relating to Sovela is limited to the greater of what you paid us in the 12 months before the claim, or US$100. These limits don’t apply where the law doesn’t allow them, such as for gross negligence or wilful misconduct, and some places don’t allow some of these exclusions, so they may not apply to you.

Indemnity. If you use Sovela in a way that breaks these terms or the law, and someone brings a claim against us because of it, you’ll cover our reasonable costs of that claim. This doesn’t apply to consumers where the law prohibits it.

Consumer rights. Nothing in these terms takes away rights you have as a consumer that can’t be waived, including under the consumer protection laws of Quebec and other provinces and states.

Disputes

Talk to us first. Most problems can be fixed quickly. Email support@sovelaparents.com and give us 30 days to try to resolve it before starting a formal claim.

United States. These terms are governed by the laws of Delaware, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. If you live in the United States, you and we agree that any dispute about Sovela or these terms will be settled by binding arbitration, run by JAMS under its rules for consumer disputes, instead of in court. You can take part by video or in the county where you live. Claims can only be brought by you or us individually: neither of us can bring or join a class action, class arbitration or other group claim, and we each give up the right to a jury trial. Either of us may still bring a qualifying claim in small-claims court instead.

Canada. If you live in Canada, these terms are governed by the laws of your province or territory and the federal laws of Canada that apply there, and you may bring a claim in the courts there. If you live in Quebec, nothing here limits your right to go to the Quebec courts or your rights under Quebec’s Consumer Protection Act.

Nothing in this section stops either of us from asking a court for urgent relief, such as to stop misuse of an account.

Changes and general terms

Changes. We may update these terms. We’ll post the new version with a new date and, for changes that matter, tell you in the app or by email at least 30 days before they take effect. If you keep using Sovela after that, the new terms apply. If you don’t agree, you can delete your account before then.

General. These terms and the Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between us about Sovela, unless an organization has signed a separate agreement. If a part is found unenforceable, the rest still applies. If we don’t enforce a term right away, we haven’t waived it. You may not transfer these terms; we may transfer them to a company that takes over Sovela, under the same promises, after telling you. If these terms are translated, the English version governs where the law allows. In Quebec, we’ll provide a French version.

Contact. Covalent Families Inc., c/o Legalinc Corporate Services, 131 Continental Drive, Suite 305, Newark, DE 19713. Email: support@sovelaparents.com. Privacy: privacy@sovelaparents.com.