We are proud to have been one of the first practitioners in Pasco County to be trained in Collaborative Divorce. The Collaborative process can provide families a gentler and more private alternative to the traditional divorce. It is an ideal process for those parties wishing to have a more child-centered divorce, or for families with substantial assets who desire more confidentiality or privacy than is had in the typical divorce. As an office, we encourage and promote the Collaborative Law process. Its goal is to maintain a co-parenting relationship between the parties even though the marriage/relationship is ending, thus allowing the parties to start the healing process and make the important decisions regarding their children and assets that have to be made.

Collaborative Family Law is a method of resolving disputes where both parties and their attorneys agree to assist each other in resolving issues and conflicts, and reach agreements using cooperative strategies rather than adversarial litigation. The parties and attorneys agree that they will not go to court during the time they are working towards settlement. A key element of the collaborative process is that if an agreement is not reached, both attorneys withdraw and are not allowed to participate in court proceedings.

In other words:

Since the parties have usually resolved many issues before encountering a roadblock, have normally formed a strong barrier of trust with the attorneys and with the neutral professionals, and have learned better dispute resolution skills, there is a strong incentive to continue to discuss ideas to resolve the problem and move toward a settlement.

The Inter-Disciplinary Model provides for a collaborative divorce team consisting of two lawyers, a mental health professional, and a financial advisor to assist the couple. While this process may sound expensive, it is actually quite cost effective, especially when compared to the traditional divorce process.

The typical divorce has many complicated aspects. There are financial, legal and emotional considerations, and then there are issues involving children. A divorce is a multi-task assignment. These tasks include not only reaching a legal division of assets and liabilities, but also the development of age-appropriate parenting plans, learning communication skills that will move spouses successfully along the road of co-parenting, and moving away from the blame/shame cycle. Financial tasks can be complicated by uncertainty about the structure of a financial settlement and the tax consequences of those decisions.

In the traditional model, lawyers are called upon to handle all of these tasks, which is impossible considering that lawyers are neither accountants, therapists or child specialists. As a result, the divorce becomes final but many issues often go unresolved. In a collaborative divorce, there are neither dueling lawyers nor dueling experts. The Collaborative Divorce model instead uses a collaborative team who provides containment for the couple as they go through the divorce transition. Within this model, clients are informed of their choices, with the involvement of different professionals such as lawyers, mental health professionals who act as divorce coaches, mental health professionals who act as neutral child specialists, and neutral financial specialists. These professionals help the couple make the best possible decisions for the children and their finances, utilizing all the resources they have.