Having a team is an amazing benefit of the Collaborative Divorce process. Both parties have access to a group of professionals who can help you learn how to advocate for yourself. That is a skill that you need to take with you post-divorce, which is extremely beneficial. Maybe you haven’t advocated for yourself before or have not always felt comfortable challenging opinions and decisions in the past. Maybe you haven’t advocated for your children and just accepted what the other parent had to say. Maybe that’s just been an issue for you most of your life. Or, maybe you have allowed your spouse to make decisions and this has usually worked out well in the past, but in recent times things have changed and you need to know how best to advocate for your interests and your concerns.
No one person can be an expert at everything. There are a few attorneys in Texas who are also practicing therapists with PhDs. There are a few attorneys in Texas who are CPAs and certified financial professionals. However, they are rare. Finding lawyers that have everything in one neat little package is pretty slim. That’s where the benefit of the Collaborative Divorce process comes in.
The mental health professional on the Collaborative Divorce team helps you discuss the lack of or the breakdown in communication that’s happened over time. The Collaborative Divorce process is a safe environment to bring up those issues, knowing that you will have the chance to talk and to be heard. The mental health professional can also assist with explaining things as they understand it coming from you to your spouse, thus helping to clear up the breakdown in your communication or any misperceptions that interfere with effective communications.
The mental health professional can also help you discuss issues with your children. Perhaps one party feels in the dark about the needs of the children. They can look at the family as a whole, whether it’s just you and your spouse, you and adult children, or you and minor children. This is a trained mental health professional who’s dealt with so many of those things and knows how to keep it in a safe environment in which everybody’s wellbeing is taken into consideration. It’s not one versus another. You are also able to meet with them offline. That way you are not also incurring the attorney’s fees.
The financial expert on the Collaborative Divorce team can help you understand what assets you have and your financial history. They are also able to help you establish a budget and become more financially informed. They help you in becoming more financially astute and savvy in your life going forward. You can also meet with the financial expert offline. That way you aren’t also incurring attorney’s fee to go through all the financial aspects of your household with you.
You do not benefit from these features in a non-collaborative setting. It’s an amazing process to go through knowing you have that support system. Because the collaborative process is a Team approach, and it is a well-designed system and there’s a lot of support that comes from that.
