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COLLABORATIVE DIVORCE

Mediation

What is Collaborative Divorce?

Collaborative Divorce is the newest alternative to resolving divorce issues outside of Court.

In a Collaborative Divorce, the parties agree to put forth good faith and full disclosure to settle their divorce issues in a private, non-threatening environment, outside of Court. Each party retains an attorney. The parties and the attorneys sign a participation agreement, whereby they pledge to put forth good faith and full disclosure to settle the divorce issues outside of Court without the threat of litigation.

A neutral financial professional, divorce coach, and child specialist are available to be part of the collaborative divorce team as needed. If a party decides to terminate the collaborative divorce process, both attorneys must withdraw from representing the clients in a litigious divorce.

The Collaborative Law process has been used successfully throughout the world, but unfortunately there is no guarantee that it will work in every case. For starters, both you and your spouse must agree to participate in the Collaborative Divorce process, and there must be no history of domestic violence. If a party decides to terminate the process, both attorneys and the attorneys’ law firms cannot represent the parties in litigation, so basically both parties have to start “from scratch” retaining new attorneys. This may actually provide an incentive to the divorcing parties to successfully complete the collaborative divorce, so they do not have to “start over”. That being said, if you and your spouse are interested and committed to the collaborative divorce process, and work in good faith and with full disclosure, you will probably find the collaborative divorce process to be a better choice for your family as a whole and less costly than the traditional divorce process.

 

Check it out:

Karen P. Sampson, Esquire co-authored the article “Collaborative Divorce” in the April 2020 edition of the New Jersey Lawyer Magazine.