This article helps you resolve common billing issues after splitting a family in Playground, including unmatched balances across guardian groups, unassigned debits and credits, and missing payment methods.
Understanding Split Family Billing
When a family is split, the student's Billing tab divides into separate views for each guardian group so each guardian only sees the charges, payments, and balance tied to their group.
After a split, you'll see the following tabs on the student's Billing page:
All | The combined balance of both guardian groups plus any unassigned debits and credits. Admin view only. |
Parent 1 | Charges, payments, and balance assigned to the first guardian group. |
Parent 2 | Charges, payments, and balance assigned to the second guardian group. |
Unassigned | Debits and credits that haven't been assigned to either group yet. Only appears when unassigned items exist. Admin view only. |
🚨 Guardians can only see billing under their own group. They cannot see the All tab or the Unassigned tab. Anything left unassigned will not appear in either guardian's portal, but it will still affect the All balance.
Balances Don't Match Between the "All" Tab and a Guardian Group
This is the most common issue after a family is split. The All tab shows an overdue balance, but when you click into Parent 1 or Parent 2, the balance shows $0 or even a credit. The mismatch almost always comes from debits and credits sitting in the Unassigned tab. It is also why a guardian may not see a charge or payment they're expecting in their portal — if a debit or credit is unassigned, no guardian sees it.
From your admin dashboard, navigate to the student's profile and click the Billing tab.
Click the Unassigned tab. If you don't see this tab, there are no unassigned items and this isn't the cause of the mismatch.
For each unassigned debit or credit, click the three dots (. . .) menu and choose Assign to group.
Pick the guardian group the item belongs to (e.g., Parent 1 or Parent 2) and confirm.
Repeat for every unassigned item. Once the Unassigned tab clears, the All balance should match the sum of the two guardian groups, and guardians will see the items in their portal.
💡 For a full walkthrough of assigning debits and credits after a split, see the Split & Blended Families article.
🚨 Assign each credit to the same group as the charge it was meant to pay. A credit assigned to the wrong group will leave one parent with an overdue balance and the other with a credit they shouldn't have.
Payment Methods Are Missing After a Split
When a family is split, all existing payment methods will also need to be assigned to specific groups and autopay will need to be reenabled. Guardians won't be able to view their payment methods unless they are reassigned, or they readd them to their account.
To assign a payment method to a specific group:
Navigate to the specific student's profile from your My School -> Students tab and click into their Billing tab.
Scroll to the bottom of the page to view payment methods.
Click the three dots next to the payment method you want to assign and click Assign to group.
Payment methods can only be assigned to a group one at a time.
Select the group you want to assign the payment method to.
Once the payment methods have been assigned, guardians can reenable autopay if necessary.
💡 If parents need assistance enabling autopay again, share the Manage Autopay as a Family article.
FAQs
Why can't a guardian see a payment they made?
Why can't a guardian see a payment they made?
The payment is likely sitting in the Unassigned tab. Guardians only see items assigned to their own group.
Open the Unassigned tab, find the payment, and assign it to that guardian's group using the three dots (. . .) menu