Question: What Role Will My Lawyer Play if I Decide on a Collaborative Divorce?
In a collaborative divorce, the lawyer is not impartial. The collaborative divorce lawyer acts as a resource, an educator, and an advocate for his/her client.
Answer: The collaborative divorce lawyer must do the usual determination, identification and investigation of the issues surrounding the
divorce. The collaborative lawyer must also anticipate conflict, manage the process and ensure that the client is aware of their legal rights and obligations.
A paper presented at the 1998 Annual Conference of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts summarized the roles and responsibilities of collaborative divorce lawyers:
- Advise their respective clients of the law which applies to their circumstances.
- Promote and exhibit honestly, mutual respect and dignified behavior.
- Guide clients through a process of cooperative conflict by employing disagreement as a way to achieve creative solutions to problems.
- Get to know their clients and establish a rapport with all parties involved in the divorce process.
- Foster respectful communication and listening skills for all parties in order to promote the interest of both sides.
- Identify the issues and concerns of all parties.
- Foster stability, reason and reality in emotionally charged situations.
- Cooperate with one another and provide all necessary disclosure and discovery.
- Assist the client in organizing disclosure documentation and in understanding the disclosure documentation from the other side.
- Assist in analyzing the consequences of competing values and possible choices.
- Respect the choices made by the client even if they are different from what the law may offer.
- Employ clear and neutral language in both written and verbal communication.
- Understand that court is not an option and refrain from employing adversarial tactics and techniques.
- Remain committed to finding effective ways to assist the parties in reaching agreement and overcoming impasses by using mediation and neutral experts to provide a third opinion.
With a collaborative divorce lawyer it is easier to come to an agreement knowing that you best interest is in mind. Each side has a lawyer backing them, and working towards one common goal, a less stressful and costly divorce.
