This small guide helps you learn about collaborative divorce in detail.
As you know, in general, traditional divorce becomes too lengthy, expensive, and has more harassment during the divorce process, with an uncertain outcome (as per the judge’s order). So to avoid that harassment and the time-consuming process of getting a divorce, it’s better to resolve the issues at your end, i.e., either one way or the other, outside of court. For that, some people can resolve their issues on their own, while others get the help of mediation to resolve their issues.
But in some cases the other party takes advantage of you, as no one is there to negotiate from your side. So to overcome this problem, collaborative divorce is more considered.
COLLABORATIVE DIVORCE:
A collaborative divorce is the process where negotiations are conducted by the lawyers on the terms of the divorce to make the settlement outside of court. In this divorce process, collaborative attorneys are involved, but they work on an interest-based settlement to resolve the issues. If you are looking for a process where there is somewhere to negotiate from your side but outside the courtroom, then collaborative divorce is your best bet.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Collaborative lawyers are professionals who know how to solve problems and handle conflicts in a way that makes everyone happy outside of court. Their main aim is to give the client a win-win ratio instead of a win-lose one, i.e., one where both parties agree and are satisfied with the terms of getting a divorce.
They just set up informal meetings, and each side’s lawyer finds out what the other side’s needs and goals are. Then, they negotiate and try to come to a fair and satisfactory agreement outside of court. Remember that this process only works when both parties are willing to reach a no-court settlement by negotiating. Because if any of the parties is unwilling, it’s of no use.
GENERAL PROCEDURE OF COLLABORATIVE DIVORCE:
Following are some of the steps that will help you understand the general procedure of collaborative divorce:
1. First and foremost, both you and your partner are willing to reach an out-of-court settlement. Then each party needs to hire their attorneys; just make sure they have experience with collaborative divorce. So that they make your case uncontested and both of you are satisfied with the outcome.
2. Then you have the meetings with your attorneys, where you have a discussion on the terms of a divorce. For that, you just have to be honest and open about everything. On the other hand, your partner has meetings and discussions with their attorney. These meetings and discussions simply help your attorneys get to know the needs of their clients.
3. In some cases, you may also need the help of a child specialist, financial specialist, mediator, health instructor, etc., depending on your case. So if you need any or all of them in your case, then they work as a team, which is called a collaborative divorce team. The main purpose of this team is to resolve the issues. So that you’ll get the fairest and best outcome possible.
4. Once these things are all set, you have a meeting with your partner and their attorney. In this meeting, first of all, you’ll sign the agreement, which specifies the no-court procedure. This agreement also specifies that if any of the clients exit or want to go to court for a divorce, then both attorneys get withdrawn from the case. This clause helps the attorneys do their best to resolve the issues and make them uncontested.
5. With every meeting (i.e., you and your attorney; your partner and their attorney), you may keep on resolving issues one-by-one and get closer to the settlement, where both you and your partner agreed on the terms of a divorce outside the courtroom. When you and your partner are ready to make compromises, only then you can resolve issues and find a way out where both are happy and satisfied.
6. Once you resolve all the issues by negotiating and working together, i.e., from money to the child’s custody to assets to debt to many more, your lawyer will prepare the agreement. You both just need to sign it and file it in court. The judge reviews your case and, if considered fair, signs it. Then that becomes the outcome of a collaborative divorce.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF COLLABORATIVE DIVORCE:
Let’s look at both sides of collaborative divorce, i.e., the advantages and disadvantages, which are listed below:
ADVANTAGES:
1. More focused to resolve the conflicts
The main benefit of a collaborative divorce is that the lawyers are more likely to try to solve problems and come to fair agreements outside of court. When deciding on a settlement, they pay a lot of attention to both the individual and their shared needs and interests. It gives you the feeling of having a customized way of getting a divorce, which sounds great, right?
2. Cost-effective
By just changing your way of arguing in the courtroom to working together and negotiating the terms of a divorce outside the courtroom by hiring collaborative attorneys, you can save money. This process not only helps shorten the divorce process but also helps you save your hard-earned money. So this is something to consider if you are looking for a cost-effective and time-saving process for getting a divorce.
3. Provides a comfortable environment to open up
As you are negotiating and working together to reach a settlement outside the courtroom, you feel less stressed, more comfortable, and it feels convenient to open up and put your interests in front of the other party. Those informal sessions are quite less stressful as compared to the court sessions.
4. More satisfaction with the outcome
As both parties are willing to reach a settlement outside of court and even the attorneys are putting their efforts in the same direction, the outcome is more likely to be fair and certain. And that makes you happier with the outcome, such as division of assets, who gets child’s custody, and so on.
5. Get a chance to negotiate
One of the other best advantages of collaborative divorce is that you get the chance to negotiate with the other party on the terms of the divorce, but in an informal way. That part is majorly missing when you use the mediation process to get the divorce. Sometimes, by negotiating, you can get more satisfactory outcomes; that’s what collaborative divorce is all about.
DISADVANTAGES:
1. Delays
As the meetings are held informally, if any of the parties is slow with their moves, then of course the whole process gets delayed. And sometimes schedule inconveniences or other factors can also cause delays in the process of making the settlement. So it’s always better to set a deadline to minimize delays in the divorce process.
2. Cheaper, but it still gets expensive
In a collaborative divorce, the cost of attorneys, health professionals, and even financial planners gets involved, which somehow makes this expensive. Of course, it’s cheaper than the traditional divorce process but still costly as compared to making the settlement on their own and using online platforms (like OnlineDivorce.com) to file the divorce.
3. Becomes useless if any of the parties is not willing
It only works well and proves effective if both parties are willing to work together and negotiate to make the settlement outside of court. And for that, you have to be honest and open up about everything. But if any of the parties is not willing, then that process becomes useless in your case of getting a divorce.
4. If any party leaves, you must restart from the beginning
One of the other disadvantages of getting a collaborative divorce is that, if any of the parties exit this divorce process, you have to start all over again from scratch to make the settlement and get the divorce. This is where this process lacks and may create more harassment and inconvenience.
SOME FAQS ABOUT COLLABORATIVE DIVORCE:
1. When is it the right decision to go for a collaborative divorce?
Well, the answer to this question depends upon how willing you and your partner are to negotiate, to work together, and to compromise at one point where both are satisfied with the terms of a divorce. If you both are willing, then you can find a way to agree at some point. If you experience violence, abuse, and suspect hiding, then collaborative divorce is not the right decision for you.
2. How effective is this process of getting a divorce?
The success of a collaborative divorce depends on many things, such as how willing you and your spouse are to work together to solve your problems, how experienced your lawyer is, how happy you are with the possible outcome, etc. As everyone’s case is different, so is its effectiveness. If one process works for one couple, that doesn’t mean it will work for another. So look at every aspect of the divorce process to get an idea of which one seems best for you.
3. Is the collaborative divorce process confidential?
In a collaborative divorce, you and your spouse meet informally, which means outside of court. This helps keep your information private. Because any statement in front of the judge matters a lot, whereas any statement outside the courtroom is not that valuable. This makes you feel relaxed somehow if your priority is to keep your matter private.
4. How long does it take to get a collaborative divorce?
Again, the length of a collaborative divorce depends upon various factors, i.e., the number of issues you have in your case, the willingness of both parties, honesty, and transparency while putting up their points, your attorney’s ability to handle the issues, etc. This process is not always easy, quick, and cheap. Because, in some cases, it becomes complicated, takes a long time, and even gets somehow expensive. So the time it takes to get a collaborative divorce varies from case to case.
5. Which option is less expensive: collaborative or mediation divorce?
You may have a collaborative divorce team, depending on your case. So, you have to pay for all of them, thereby making it more expensive. While in the case of divorce mediation, you just have to pay the mediation fee. But still, it’s less than the attorney fee. So, somehow, it costs you less than a collaborative divorce.
