Collaborative Separation and Divorce offers a process where both parties can walk away from the relationship knowing that they solved the issues on their own, without fighting over them in court and forcing a Judge to make decisions for them.
There are many benefits to Collaborative Separation and Divorce. A collaborative approach offers the following:
- Saves money. You don’t have to pay lawyers to “fight it out” in court over the things you can negotiate yourselves.
- Saves time. Litigation (fighting in court) is time-consuming and it takes a long time before your lawyer can get your case to court and in front of a Judge.
- Is less formal. You aren’t in the courtroom giving formal evidence and listening to lawyers argue about legal concepts using legal jargon. Instead, you are sitting around a table and talking about things in a way that you can understand.
- Lets you maintain control. You’ll have to share control with your ex, because collaborative separation and divorce does involve give-and-take, but ultimately, the way you solve disputes with your ex-partner is up to the two of you.
- Allows you to negotiate a settlement that works best for your family. When you end up in court, a Judge makes final decisions for you—and while Judges are expected to be fair and impartial, they don’t always know what works for your family. That means a Judge’s decisions may not be the best fit for you, your ex, or your kids.
- You have lots of support. Separating from a partner and restructuring your family is hard, and there are many emotions involved. A collaborative approach offers each party their own “coach” who has experience in supporting families through separation. Coaches have lots of expertise; many of them are marriage and family therapists. Your coach will prepare you for meetings with the lawyers and will also facilitate meetings with your ex -partner and their coach to reach resolution on issues (such as parenting plans) that your lawyers can turn into a legal agreement.