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Collaborative Family Lawyer
Important features of the Collaborative Family Law process:

 

  • Private and Confidential

Since the proceedings are held in private, the details of an individual case are not part of the public record.

 

  • No Court

Everyone can focus on settlement without the imminent threat, formality, and added expense of court.

 

  • Cooperative Approach

Each is supported and represented by their own lawyer and yet you work collaboratively with your spouse and your spouse's lawyer in resolving your issues.

 

  • Creative

This non-adversarial process allows the two of your to be more creative than the inflexible court process.

 

  • Win-Win Climate

The atmosphere of integrity and full disclosure creates a climate that makes win-win solutions more likely.

 

  • Clients in Charge

You are a vital part of the settlement team consisting of both parties and both attorneys. You control the proceedings rather than being controlled by a system that does not understand your needs, feelings and perceptions.

 

  • Faster

The Collaborative Family Law procedure can be much less time consuming than litigation in the adversarial system.

 

  • Child Sensitive

A non-adversarial atmosphere creates an environment for a more positive resolution for parents and children, too. A major focus of the collaborative process is addressing the needs of the children without exposing them to the detrimental court system. Children are protected. Central to this process are meetings with selected legal, financial and mental health professionals to resolve the issues presented by your family needs.

 

  • Four Party Conferences

While no two cases, clients or lawyers are alike, the emphasis in the approach is to find a way in which the lawyers can work with the parties. This occurs in a conference room outside of the court.

Collaborative Divorce and Family Law

Many of us in the family law bar (and many family law judges, as well) have long recognized the need for a system that would permit our clients to effectively resolve their divorce issues without having to subject themselves to the traumatic adversarial process on which our court system is based. This concern has been echoed by professionals who deal with the consequences of divorce. The adversarial process in divorce cases is something that most clients experience as a hostile, wounding battle and an extreme invasion of privacy, a system which rewards the person who is most willing to fight and to attempt to injure the other even though the fight is also self-destructive. Even those willing to fight do so primarily because they believe that they need to make the "best" use of the tools that the system makes available to them if they are to survive their divorce case in court.

 

Collaborative Family Law is a family law specialty which now enables us to offer our clients an effective way to avoid going to court and all that the adversarial process entails - threats, demands, court hearings and trials, resources expended in battle and results which leave a residue of hurt, anger and cynicism. Instead, our clients in Collaborative Family Law proceedings find a civilized, respectful, positive and effective way to resolve the admittedly difficult issue of divorce. They gain much in the process, not the least of which is a settlement that they and their former spouse have designed for themselves and which they have both endorsed as being appropriate for each of them.

 

Call us for further information and a consultation to determine whether the Collaborative Family Law process is a suitable way for you and your spouse to find an effective resolution without having to run the gauntlet of the adversarial court system.

 

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