The collaborative divorce process can help you achieve your divorce goals. The following article, originally featured in Park Cities People, explains why collaborative divorce is the right tool for the job. If you are contemplating or facing divorce, do you have any of the following goals: Staying in your house;Keeping your children in their current private school or desirable public school district;Making sure college tuition and expenses will be paid;Maintaining a good post-divorce … [Read more...]
The Rise in After Retirement Divorce
My family law practice handles a sizeable number of “grey divorces.” “Grey divorce” clients have been married to their respective spouses for decades. Over the years, through season after season, their relationships have evolved and changed. At some point, these changes have meant an end to the vows of staying together until “death do us part.” Statistics indicate that there has been a rise of divorces amongst people over the age of 50 years old. As the life … [Read more...]
Avoiding “Death by Divorce”: How a Collaborative Divorce Preserves Relationships
Raise your hand if you know someone who has been divorced. Maybe it’s your friends. Maybe it’s your parents. Maybe it’s you. Keep your hand raised if you know someone who has been through a Collaborative Divorce….. That’s not nearly as many hands in the air as there should be. Why? Because anyone considering divorce needs to know that a Collaborative Divorce can protect all of the people and relationships we care about. Divorce does not have to burn your world to the ground. Play out this … [Read more...]
Is Collaborative Divorce Right for You?
If you are facing a divorce, or thinking about filing for divorce, you may have discovered that there are several different paths you can follow in a divorce. The traditional path is litigation and just about any attorney can help you with that. Some people are choosing to do it themselves, without an attorney. That can work in very simple cases. Others focus on mediation, which is a good process, but attorneys should be involved. It is most often used in litigated cases. The newest process is … [Read more...]
The Five Great Fears of Divorce
In 1941, a few months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt spoke of the Four Freedoms – freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear. In World War II, the Japanese army operated in China under what has come to be known as the Three All’s – kill all, burn all and loot all. Sayings need not be connected with uplifting events or good people to be remembered. They are memorable because they distill the essence of their time and tell … [Read more...]
Can You Hear Me NOW?
Divorce Coaching Can Vastly Improve Communication Can you imagine walking into court for a final hearing for your divorce case thinking you might be led away in handcuffs if you lose? That has to be a scary thought. And an outrageous one. People are almost never taken away in handcuffs at the end of divorce case. As a young lawyer, I once had a divorce case client with whom I had difficulty communicating. Because of my lack of experience, I did not recognize the highly emotional nature of … [Read more...]
5 Good Reasons NOT to Choose a Collaborative Divorce
1. You want more enemies It is true that there is no guarantee that going through the litigation process will result in your spouse being your eternal enemy and no guarantee that going through the collaborative process will result in your spouse being respectful of you forever. But, reality is that no one likes to answer detailed, accusatory questions about themselves, and those types of things can and do happen routinely in the litigation process. Both detailed written discovery and … [Read more...]
The Best Way to Divorce in Texas
What’s the best way to divorce in Texas? You have two options: a collaborative divorce or litigation. A litigated divorce offers only three benefits, including forced discovery, a restraining order against family violence and a court ordered settlement. The collaborative process offers many benefits, including privacy, lower cost, transparency, client control, convenience, preserving family relationships, protecting children, allowing creative settlement solutions and minimizing post-divorce … [Read more...]
Certification is Key to Collaborative Success
A challenging aspect to the collaborative divorce practice is the lack of expertise displayed in numerous attorneys participating in collaborative cases. At this point, any family lawyer can decide to dabble: but if the collaborative case doesn’t settle, the ripple effect greatly damages the overall process. The probability of a case terminating because it cannot reach settlement directly correlates with the lawyer’s collaborative experience and genuine commitment to the … [Read more...]
What Happens in Collaborative vs. Litigated Divorces?
There are major differences between a collaborative and litigated divorce. In a collaborative divorce, you control the outcome, your goals and interests are important, all information is shared openly, you negotiate a win-win settlement, avoid harm to your children and save money. In a litigated divorce, the attorneys control the case, your goals and interests are secondary, information is hidden, each side attempts to win, the children are often placed in the middle and litigation costs … [Read more...]
