How Collaboration Works
The Process:
As a collaborative attorney, my job is to be your advocate without being adversarial. I guide you through the following steps to reach a resolution that works for your family.
- Determine the Right Process. We start with a discussion to help you better understand how collaborative law works and how it compares to mediation and to litigation in order for you determine if collaborative law is right for you.
- Form the Collaborative Team. If you agree to proceed, we identify and choose the other professionals who will form the collaborative team. Team members might include individuals coaches for each party or one neutral coach, a neutral financial expert, and neutral mental health professionals, such as a child specialist.
- Gather Information and Identify Issues. Next, we gather information about your situation and identify decisions you have already made and issues that remain.
- Discuss Issues. We then discuss the open issues, working to identify and understand each of your needs and interests. Having a better understanding of each party’s needs clears the way to creative solutions.
- Identify and Evaluate Options. With a full understanding of everyone’s interests, we brainstorm options and then evaluate to see which best meet your needs.
- Make Decisions. Once we have explored all of the possible options, you are then in a position to make decisions that are the best solutions for your situation.
- Formalize Agreement. The collaborative attorneys then work together to draft a legal and binding agreement to reflect the decisions you have made. In a divorce case, the signed agreement can be used as the basis for filing divorce papers.