COLLABORATIVE DIVORCE

Empowering families through compassionate support and expert guidance

At Kalscheur Conscious Family Law

we understand that many of the families seeking our assistance have many needs, many concerns, and many goals. The family restructuring of a divorce creates challenging emotions, financial strains, and legal uncertainty. You may feel overwhelmed and uncertain of where to start. Fortunately, the collaborative process utilizes an interdisciplinary team of well-trained professionals to give you exactly the assistance you need to help assess your financial options, regulate your emotions, and make informed legal decisions. 

What is Collaborative Divorce?

A “collaborative divorce” follows the Collaborative Law Process, which is a confidential out-of-court legal process that utilizes an interdisciplinary team of professionals (mental health, financial, and legal) to assist families going through a divorce. Both parties hire an attorney and any other professionals their family might need, and they sign a contract known as a Participation Agreement to meet in good faith negotiations to meet in a series of confidential out-of-court settlement meetings. 

Collaborative Attorney

Each spouse hires a collaboratively trained attorney to ensure they fully understand the legal decisions they must make in their divorce. Collaborative attorneys are focused on helping you make informed decisions guided by your goals, needs, and interests. You always maintain a confidential attorney-client privileged relationship with your attorney, and your attorney will endeavor to assist you and your spouse to reach an amicable outcome. Collaborative attorneys are particularly focused on settlement because they sign a disqualification clause, which means if you don’t settle in the collaborative process, they are disqualified from representing you in court later.

Mental Health Coach

Collaborative coaches are mental health professionals specially trained in the collaborative model to help the parties regulate challenging emotions. Some families hire one neutral coach, and others prefer that each spouse has their own coach. Collaborative coaches are invaluable in assisting the spouses and the other professionals to understand the emotional process of divorce and the emotional states of the parties. In turn, the parties communicate more effectively, and the negotiations are more focused and efficient. 

Financial Neutral

Divorce involves numerous financial decisions and often creates feelings of financial insecurity. Financial neutrals are financial professionals that make sure you have all of the information you need to make decisions and identify options for creating more post-divorce financial security.

Child Specialist

A child specialist is a mental health professional with special training in child development. When families have special concerns regarding co-parenting and making child development focused decisions, they can choose to hire a child specialist. 

Mediator/Facilitator

Some families in a collaborative divorce find it helpful to have one neutral to help navigate the process and facilitate each step along the way. KCFL attorneys utilize their mediation training to serve in this role on some collaborative cases. 

  • When people use the term “Collaborative Divorce”, they are usually referring to using the Collaborative Process for their divorce. The Collaborative Process is an out-of-court process that utilizes an interdisciplinary team of professionals (legal, mental health, financial) to assist families going through a divorce. Both spouses sign a contract, known as a participation agreement, to meet in good faith negotiations in a series of confidential out-of-court meetings.

  • While we typically recommend having at least one neutral professional, to have a collaborative process, you only need two parties, two attorneys, and a signed participation agreement. One of the advantages of the Collaborative Process is the flexibility to meet the unique needs of each family while incorporating the professional best qualified to assist the family in each area. The spouses decide what professionals they need to help their family make well informed decisions.

  • Yes, each party in the collaborative process will need to hire an attorney.

  • With the skillful use of the interdisciplinary professional team, we can often make collaborative divorces less expensive than a litigated divorce. In a court-based process, when there are disputes over children or financial issues, often both parties hire their own set of experts creating double the costs of utilizing one neutral in the collaborative process. In addition, by coming together in meetings to discuss difficult topics with your spouse, we can quickly get answers to questions that would require the filing of costly legal pleadings and court appearances in a litigated process.

  • The disqualification clause is essential to the collaborative process. The clause states that if you and your spouse are unable to resolve your case in the collaborative process, then the professional team, including your attorneys, cannot represent you in a litigated court-based process. This brings an even greater incentive to everyone to work to find resolution in the collaborative process and thereby increases settlement rates.

  • No. At KCFL, we serve as either one spouse’s collaborative attorney or as a neutral mediator/facilitator. We then work together with our client, their spouse, and their spouse’s collaborative attorney to assess what other professionals are needed and assist in the selection process.

  • Collaborative meetings either occur in person at one of the professionals’ offices or over zoom. The professional team will work with the couple to maximize efficiency and determine who is needed at different meetings based on the needs of the family. Sometimes there are full team meetings with all professionals and both spouses, and other times, it makes more sense for one or both spouses to meet individually with one neutral professional.