The Collaborative Attorney, An Alternative To Litigation

The Collaborative divorce team is made up of Collaborative Attorneys, Collaborative Coaches, a neutral Financial Specialist and a neutral Child Specialist. This article will look at the role of the Collaborative Attorney in more depth.

Collaborative Divorce offers an alternative to traditional models of divorce. In traditional models, the husband and wife each hire a litigating attorney and they “battle” through the divorce process, often ending up in court where a judge makes decisions. In traditional divorce, a “win/lose” mentality exists with each side trying to “get the most” they can. The parties often gather as much negative information or “evidence” as they can in an effort to make themselves look good while making the other side look bad.

In Collaborative Divorce, the parties engage in a process of negotiating and reaching agreement on all aspects of the divorce. They do this with the assistance and support of a highly trained professional team. There is no “battle” because there is no court and there are no judges making decisions for the family. This does not mean that Collaborative Divorce is not a legal process and one that involves the law. Divorce, by definition, is the ending of a legal relationship, known as marriage. Thus, Collaborative Divorce, by definition, involves legal elements. Therefore, attorneys are integral to the process.

First and foremost, a Collaborative Attorney and his/her client clearly understand and agree that if the case is unsuccessful in the Collaborative model that the attorney will not represent his/her client in a litigated divorce. The “Non-Participation” agreement is fundamental to the Collaborative process. In fact, all members of the Collaborative team...read more about collaborative divorce attorneys