Collaborative Divorce 727-846-1802

Is Collaborative Divorce Right for You?

Divorces often get messy, which is understandable, as they are very emotional for both sides. They are also very challenging, expensive, and can quickly turn into complicated and lengthy court cases. 

For all of those reasons, courts across the state of Florida either suggest or demand that couples try and handle things on their own first. 

However, these things can still end up yielding little results, which is when you need to consider regular divorce. Fortunately, you still don’t have to go to court if you opt for a collaborative divorce. Let’s explain why and how:

What Is a Collaborative Divorce, and How Does It Work?

Collaborative divorce is a legal process that gives you the option to negotiate a divorce without the need to go to court to litigate. In essence, couples use a combination of team meetings, negotiations and mediation to settle disputes and reach agreements on all the crucial parts of a divorce:

• Property division
• Debt division
• Time-sharing and the Parenting Plan
• Child support
• Spousal support

The process begins with a simple conversation between you and your spouse. The discussion should be used to determine if both of you are willing to negotiate and go through the process of collaborative divorce. 

If you agree, the next step is for each of you to hire an attorney who specializes in collaborative divorce. This is important because experienced collaborative divorce attorneys have the training and know-how to reach a win-win scenario for both sides.  Naturally, that still means that your attorney will represent your interests only. 

Once you hire your collaborative  attorney, you need to discuss some things with them privately:

• How you want to split your assets and debts
• How you prefer to handle the primary residence of the children issue
• What kind of time-sharing you want for either you or your spouse
• Who will financially support the children after the divorce
• How to split joint accounts if you have them and
• What are your goals

Once the meeting is done, you can then schedule the first meeting with your spouse and their attorney, a mental health professional, and a financial advisor.  It will be the first of many meetings where you will use different methods to try to reach a mutually beneficial divorce settlement. 

If you manage to reach that settlement, all that will be left is for your lawyers to draft the settlement agreement you both need to sign. 

The parties are allowed to explore all options and reach an agreement that is right for their family.  The parties can agree to things that the courts can not order under the law.

Is Collaborative Divorce Good for Me?

As you can see, a collaborative divorce may not be nearly as complicated and stressful as a court case. However, the question still remains: Is it right for you?  

For some people, collaborative divorce is a preferred option. It should only be avoided when there are allegations of domestic violence or child abuse. It will also be necessary when the two sides cannot resolve conflicts or don’t want to try settling things amicably, outside of court. Another advantage of collaborative divorce is that is private. You reach an agreement first and then that agreement is filed with the court.

If your divorce is not as problematic as these cases, then you should consider collaborative divorce, as long as you can find a good collaborative divorce attorney.

Debora A. Diaz is a divorce and family law attorney who is trained in collaborative divorce. If you would like to explore and learn more about the collaborative divorce process you can schedule a consultation with Attorney Diaz.  You can reach her at 727-846-1802 or through her website.