Collaborative law is a process for people who desire a divorce with dignity and respect and wish to avoid a contentious battle.
In Collaborative family law, each party hires a trained and Collaborative attorney to serve as legal advisor and settlement specialist. The parties and attorneys work together on a cooperative, non-adversarial basis with a mutual goal of reaching a settlement acceptable to both spouses or partners. This process encourages creative problem solving, win-win negotiations, and resolutions that meet the needs of all members of the family.
What is the Participation Agreement?
An agreement, signed by both parties and their lawyers that commits all of them to settling issues without going to court.
What Does the Process Look Like?
The parties are directly involved in the process and retain control over the outcome. Both spouses and attorneys communicate and negotiate directly with one another in four-way settlement meetings. Everyone commits to voluntarily disclose all financial and other relevant information, to proceed respectfully and in good faith, and to refrain from the threat or use of litigation. The parties agree that they will not go to court and if anyone wants to do so, both Collaborative attorneys would withdraw from the case so parties can retain litigation attorneys to represent them in court.
Role of Experts
When the use of experts is appropriate, Collaborative Divorce involves a team approach rather than an adversarial approach. Depending on the issues involved, divorce coaches, child specialists and financial experts may be consulted as jointly retained neutrals to focus on particular needs of the family. The team approach again ensures that the needs of the children and family are the priority.
Potential advantages of Collaborative Family Law include:
The process is designed to minimize hostility and negative conflict, and to instead refocus the parties on constructive, mutually satisfactory methods of arriving at outcomes. This is a significant benefit to the parties’ children, since research has shown that conflict and hostility between parents, an almost inevitable consequence of adversarial litigation, is significantly damaging to children.
A significant increase in the likelihood that parties to a family law dispute can resolve the dispute while preserving a positive relationship. This can be quite valuable when there will be a need to maintain a co-parenting relationship with the other party and/or when preserving as positive a relationship as possible is important based on a party’s values.
The attorneys involved have specialized training in family law dispute resolution and will not create or worsen conflict.
Collaborative law uniquely incorporates other professionals into the process, such as mental health professionals and financial specialists, who can contribute to the overall result of the process.
The parties maintain control over the process, and are assured that neither party has to face the risk or fear of an unknown, imposed decision.
Matters involved in the case are comparatively much more private than when using litigation.
Collaborative family law allows the parties, working together with their attorneys, to explore creative solutions to meet their circumstances.
There is the potential for cost savings. While not necessarily a “low cost” alternative, by definition, all resources are being expended directly toward resolving issues.