How Does Collaborative Practice Work

Step one: Select a Collaborative lawyer to assist you. You may also choose to start the process with a Collaborative divorce coach or financial expert. Click here for list of professionals in your area.

Step two: You begin the process by meeting privately with a professional of your choice. You will select a lawyer and meet with other professionals on your Collaborative Team. Your first meeting with your spouse may include your entire Team or perhaps only the two of you and each of your lawyers. Collaborative Practice is unique in that it calls for both of you, and your lawyers, to come together for face-to-face discussions and negotiations—outside the courtroom. In an atmosphere of openness and honesty, all assets are disclosed, needs are communicated, and solutions are explored. When there are children, their interests are given the highest priority. Coaches, Child Advocates and Financial Specialists help the process stay on course and as a result, settlements are reached more easily and faster than would happen in the traditional process.

Step three: With the assistance of your collaborative team a divorce settlement will be created. You, along with your lawyers and other chosen collaborative professionals, take control of shaping the final agreement, rather than having a settlement imposed on you by the court.

Collaborative practice is a good choice when each party prefers to make their own decisions guided by attorneys working through the legal process together.

Although the Collaborative process is much gentler and well received by those who embrace it, it is not necessarily the best approach for everyone. For the process to be successful, the divorcing parties must be willing to work honestly, openly, and in good faith to arrive at a fair resolution without court involvement or intervention, and the attorneys should be specially trained in collaborative practice.

The Collaborative Team- Centered Around You.

To facilitate an agreement and to move on positively, working with other professionals is essential. Coaches assist in developing communication tools and managing difficult emotions. Child specialists work with parents to create a tailored parenting plan that works best for the children and for you. A single neutral financial specialist gathers and analyzes financial information you both agree on, thus simplifying decisions that usually break down into contentious struggles.

Who is on the Collaborative Divorce Team?

Legal Professionals who practice in the area of California family law and are trained in the collaborative process. Family lawyers provide legal advice, prepare the legal documents and shepherd the couple through the legal process. Each client retains a family lawyer to advise them individually. The family lawyer consults privately with their respective client and participates in four-way meetings with the other spouse and their lawyer. The lawyers use their non-adversarial negotiation skills to assist the clients in reaching an acceptable settlement.

Divorce Coaches are Licensed Clinical Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists, Psychologists, or otherwise licensed mental health professionals who are well versed in family dynamics and issues pertaining to separation and divorce. Coaches can help you and your spouse make the transition from spouses to former spouses and co-parents. They provide emotional support, optimize communication skills, discuss parenting concerns, and help ensure that needs, worries, fears and feelings are understood in a non-threatening environment. Coaches also can help you develop a parenting plan. They provide both parents with opportunities to discuss and resolve their concerns and to come to solutions that work for each of them and their children.

Child Specialists focus on children's needs in the divorce process. They have advanced training in child development as well as expertise related to divorce. Working as an independent advocate for the children, the child specialist provides the children with a safe place to share their feelings and express their needs. Through this process the child specialist works to ensure that the needs and concerns of the children are being considered by both parents and all members of the team.

Financial Advisors act as a neutral party in the collaborative process. The financial advisor is an expert in analyzing options for dividing family assets, determining support payments and in evaluating tax implications of the divorce, if any. The financial specialist understands the economic issues related to divorce and helps clients make informed decisions about their financial future. As an impartial advisor, the financial specialist can save the clients time and money by avoiding the traditional posturing and emotional turmoil that inevitably comes when each side brings their own expert to advocate their preferred position. Instead, spouses get to see the financial picture “as it really is,� based on the data assembled. This level playing field provides a fair and manageable basis for negotiations and a lasting settlement.

Is Collaborative Divorce for You?

Divorce is a highly personal matter, and there is not one approach that is right for everyone. Many couples, however, have found that Collaborative divorce is a desirable alternative to the potentially destructive aspects of the conventional divorce process.

Collaborative divorce may be right for you if you believe the values listed below are important:

• Maintaining an atmosphere of mutual respect through the divorce process--even in the presence of disagreements.
• Prioritizing the needs of children.
• Enhancing communication with your spouse.
• Working creatively and cooperatively to solve issues.
• Putting aside the frustration and pain of the present moment to plan productively for your future.
• Behaving in an ethical manner toward your spouse and expecting the same in return.
• Keeping control of the divorce process with you and your spouse, and not relegating it to the court system.

If these principles resonate with you, it is likely that Collaborative divorce is right for you.