Collaborative Divorce Attorney in Texas, Divorce without Confilct

What is Collaborative Law?

Collaborative Law is a method of law that is used primarily within family law to resolve legal issues collaboratively which usually lowers stress, costs, and time. Parties often choose this method to resolve their divorce because of these factors.

What is Collaborative Divorce?

Collaborative divorce is the use of collaborative law to resolve a divorce. Both parties and their attorneys meet face-to-face in a series of “four-way meetings” where they discuss and negotiate details of divorce such as property division, debt allocation, spousal support, co-parenting agreements and child support arrangements.

Experts like financial analysts and child psychologists may be brought into these negotiations to provide objectivity and creativity to facilitate creative solutions that are in the best interests of the children and their parents. Through the collaborative law process, parties can effectively resolve issues such as:

• Child custody and parenting plan development
• Child support
• Property division
• Other rights and responsibilities

These meetings are structured and supportive to allow you and your spouse to reach agreements that are personalized, creative and enduring. Once all issues have been addressed and agreed upon, a final decree of divorce is submitted to the court for entry.

Is collaborative law right for you?

If the following things are important to you, collaborative law could be your best option:

• You want control of your own divorce process and the outcome.
• You seek a civil, respectful, creative and individual process for ending your marriage.
• You recognize the importance of future relationships — even after the divorce.
• You believe it is important to protect your children from the harm that litigation can inflict.
• You place a high value on personal responsibility for handling your divorce with dignity.

As Fort Worth divorce attorneys, we are proud to be on the cutting edge of collaborative law practice in Dallas. Through our affiliation with the Tarrant County Collaborative Professionals and the Collaborative Law Institute of Texas, we are always working to refine the collaborative law process in Dallas and Fort Worth and to educate the public about the benefits of the collaborative approach.

Collaborative law requires the agreement of both parties to participate in the process. It is most effective when each party has the counsel of an experienced family law attorney who is trained in collaborative law. If you need to know more about collaborative law, or need help explaining the process to your spouse, give us a call and we’ll be happy to assist you.

The anger, fear and anxiety of a divorce or custody case can be devastating for divorcing couples and their children. While a competitive, “winner take all” approach is a natural reaction to the pain of divorce, our family law attorneys encourage clients to consider the long term effects of such an approach. The conventional process of divorce is, by definition, adversarial, and it can drive parties that are already separated from each other, even farther apart. Often, the bitterness of an adversarial divorce leaves lasting wounds and the children of such divorces often suffer the most.

In Dallas, the collaborative divorce has emerged as the preferred alternative to the conventional divorce. While collaborative law is common in the Dallas and Fort Worth area, it is taking hold in Parker, Hood and Johnson Counties. A collaborative law divorce differs from the traditional adversarial divorce in that each spouse and his or her lawyer sign a collaborative agreement which guides their behavior throughout the process. Most importantly, the parties agree not to litigate and to negotiate in good faith. As long as parties are in the collaborative process, no court proceedings are permitted.

While a party may “opt-out” of the collaborative divorce process, if that occurs, both parties must discharge their collaborative attorneys and hire litigation attorneys who will begin the adversarial process with its attendant cost, delays and animosity. This requirement places a responsibility not just on the parties, but on the collaborative lawyer him or herself, to work together towards a fair settlement that is mutually agreed upon.