Georgia Collaborative Divorce and Family Law Blog

Collaborative Practice Benefits Children

Other than perhaps the death of a parent, divorce is often the single most traumatic event in a child's life. In America 60% of all marriages end in divorce and a third of those divorces involve bitter conflict. One million children in our country are involved in divorce each year. These children are twice as likely as children from intact homes to develop behavior problems, psychiatric illness and addictions. Children of divorce are 50% more likely to divorce than children from intact homes, perpetuating the cycle and driving statistics up each year.

As typically practiced in America, divorce rips asunder the very foundation of a child's world. It shatters the family structure, destroys communication between the parents, and irrevocably changes the child's relationship with each parent. Children suffer not only their own fears and misery over the loss of the family but, too often, are used as pawns by one parent to hurt the other. Out of anger or emotional need, one parent may seek to monopolize the child's time and affection to the exclusion of the other parent. There are no winners in a divorce. Everyone loses, but the children lose most of all.

Divorce professionals and researchers alike have concluded that how a couple conducts themselves during a divorce has far greater impact on their children than the separation itself. Weary of acrimonious divorce battles that dragged on in court and the expense and emotional damage they cause, attorneys and clients sought a more constructive way of divorcing. The sad reality is that divorce involves far too many complex personal and family issues to be adequately addressed and appropriately resolved by an already overwhelmed judiciary. People wanted to maintain control over their lives, not have decisions that would have such a major impact on their future dictated by an uninvested third party through the courts.

Collaborative Practice (also called Collaborative Law and Collaborative Divorce) became the answer. Founded in 1990 by Minnesota attorney Stuart G. Webb, collaborative practice focuses on the fact that divorce is not just a painful ending but can also be a new beginning. Stressing cooperation over confrontation and resolution over revenge, collaborative divorce is quickly transforming how couples dissolve their marriages, divide their assets, and reinvent their post-divorce parenting relationships. "Collaborative practice promotes respect, places the needs of the children first and keeps control of the process with the spouses," explains the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (IACP) website (www.CollaborativePractice.com).

An alternative to traditional litigious divorce and child custody proceedings, collaborative law is a commitment to a principled, negotiated settlement that focuses on client empowerment. It harnesses the problem-solving skills of both attorneys and their clients to arrive at creative settlements that address the needs of each parent and their children without the threat or use of court action. The collaborative law method provides the tools, resources, and professional assistance in a specialized and structured framework to achieve effective outcomes for families in transition. Interest in collaborative law is growing and is now practiced in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Switzerland.

What is Collaborative Family Law?

Collaborative family law is a powerful and effective way for people who are divorcing to reach fair solutions and resolve differences, using highly trained and skilled professionals, while avoiding the cost and uncertainties of litigation. Collaborative family law is about achieving a fair and equitable settlement and assessing and accomplishing the thoughtful restructuring of the family.

The collaborative family law process is progressive because it allows couples to obtain the positive advantages of legal, financial, psychological and personal assistance in sorting out the complexities of their divorce, while at the same time focusing on issue resolution and family growth while completely avoiding the harmful disadvantages of the adversarial litigation process.

Only collaborative family law addresses the whole picture that is involved in divorce. It recognizes that divorce is more than a legal procedure or event. It is also a time of intense distress and proves to be challenging for the parties and particularly for the children. Many financial issues are involved and often they are complex. Because it does address the whole picture, the collaborative law process helps parties achieve a more complete, enriching and long term resolution.

In this process, parents and children tend to suffer fewer traumas, heal faster and have better relationships with each other after the divorce. Additionally, children are protected from the most devastating aspects of a family break-up.

People can use the collaborative family law process to resolve their entire matter, including child custody and visitation issues, property division and support. Post-divorce issues, such as adjustment of time with children or adjustment of support, can also be solved with collaborative law.

How Does It Work?

In a collaborative divorce, you will create a "container" that can be filled with experts who will work with you in an exchanging and meaningful dialogue directed toward the identification of and resolution of issues. The various individuals who work within the "container" can and will vary based upon the needs of the individual divorcing couple. You can have your own attorney who will provide you with full legal protection and advocacy. You will also have support and coaching from a psychological expert. There can also be a neutral financial professional to provide analysis and advice. All financial information is exchanged voluntarily and completely. The divorcing parties are still bound by their fiduciary duties of good faith and full and complete disclosure of assets and debts among other things. Your attorney helps you to assess the information and provides guidance and options.

A series of multi-party meetings is scheduled to systematically identify and examine the issues, explore options and work toward an agreement that satisfies both parties. An agenda is set for each meeting in advance, so that everyone is clear on what issues will be discussed during any given meeting. Attorneys can meet with their clients to prepare for each meeting.

A problem-solving approach is always used. Collaborative attorneys are trained in interest-based negotiation, and they help the parties to work productively to find agreements that meet the real interests of both. This type of negotiation allows both sides to win ("win-win" negotiation as opposed to the "win-lose" litigation model).

The collaborative family law process is voluntary, and both parties must agree to participate and to continue working together until resolution is achieved. This means that each participant has a stake in being fair and cooperative, because uncooperative behavior will cause the process to terminate and force the parties back to the litigation model.

If the process does terminate, the parties continue to have all of their rights and remedies under the law. The collaborative attorneys will withdraw and the parties can proceed to hire counsel to take the case to court and have their matters be decided by a judge.

Collaborative family law is a powerful and effective way for people who are divorcing to reach fair solutions and resolve differences, using highly trained and skilled professionals, while avoiding the cost and uncertainties of litigation. Collaborative family law is about achieving a fair and equitable settlement and assessing and accomplishing the thoughtful restructuring of the family.

The collaborative family law process is progressive because it allows couples to obtain the positive advantages of legal, financial, psychological and personal assistance in sorting out the complexities of their divorce, while at the same time focusing on issue resolution and family growth while completely avoiding the harmful disadvantages of the adversarial litigation process.

Only collaborative family law addresses the whole picture that is involved in divorce. It recognizes that divorce is more than a legal procedure or event. It is also a time of intense distress and proves to be challenging for the parties and particularly for the children. Many financial issues are involved and often they are complex. Because it does address the whole picture, the collaborative law process helps parties achieve a more complete, enriching and long term resolution.

In this process, parents and children tend to suffer fewer traumas, heal faster and have better relationships with each other after the divorce. Additionally, children are protected from the most devastating aspects of a family break-up.

People can use the collaborative family law process to resolve their entire matter, including child custody and visitation issues, property division and support. Post-divorce issues, such as adjustment of time with children or adjustment of support, can also be solved with collaborative law.

How Does It Work?

In a collaborative divorce, you will create a "container" that can be filled with experts who will work with you in an exchanging and meaningful dialogue directed toward the identification of and resolution of issues. The various individuals who work within the "container" can and will vary based upon the needs of the individual divorcing couple. You can have your own attorney who will provide you with full legal protection and advocacy. You will also have support and coaching from a psychological expert. There can also be a neutral financial professional to provide analysis and advice. All financial information is exchanged voluntarily and completely. The divorcing parties are still bound by their fiduciary duties of good faith and full and complete disclosure of assets and debts among other things. Your attorney helps you to assess the information and provides guidance and options.

A series of multi-party meetings is scheduled to systematically identify and examine the issues, explore options and work toward an agreement that satisfies both parties. An agenda is set for each meeting in advance, so that everyone is clear on what issues will be discussed during any given meeting. Attorneys can meet with their clients to prepare for each meeting.

A problem-solving approach is always used. Collaborative attorneys are trained in interest-based negotiation, and they help the parties to work productively to find agreements that meet the real interests of both. This type of negotiation allows both sides to win ("win-win" negotiation as opposed to the "win-lose" litigation model).

The collaborative family law process is voluntary, and both parties must agree to participate and to continue working together until resolution is achieved. This means that each participant has a stake in being fair and cooperative, because uncooperative behavior will cause the process to terminate and force the parties back to the litigation model.

If the process does terminate, the parties continue to have all of their rights and remedies under the law. The collaborative attorneys will withdraw and the parties can proceed to hire counsel to take the case to court and have their matters be decided by a judge.