Collaborative Divorce is a relatively new form of alternative dispute resolution that offers an emotionally healthy road to divorce. First developed in the early 1990s by a group of attorneys, mental health professionals, and financial specialists, Collaborative Divorce has since been embraced by practitioners throughout the United States and Canada. We have offered Collaborative Divorce at Brave, Weber & Mack since May 2005.

Benefits of Collaborative Divorce

Collaborative Divorce holds great promise for those who wish to divorce in a more constructive manner. It was designed to promote greater respect between the parties and, when children are involved, it elevates their needs, making their present and future well-being a key priority throughout the entire divorce process.

In a Collaborative Divorce, both parties retain specially trained attorneys. Other professionals, including coaches, financial specialists, therapists, and child specialists, are called upon to join the team and offer their unique expertise. The experts also agree to adhere to the collaborative process. An important distinction of Collaborative Divorce is the agreement that the attorneys and other experts make to resign from the case if it veers towards litigation. This ensures that all who are involved are committed to the non-adversTimes New Roman resolution of your divorce case.

Collaborative Divorce offers the following benefits:

• Economies of scale. Both parties share the cost and expertise of the experts they choose to retain.
• Solution-based. The Collaborative team is focused on solutions rather than a winner or a loser.
• Safe. No decisions are made without an attorney present, and each party is represented by his or her own attorney.
• Control. Clients "own" their agreement, and are therefore much more likely to follow it. They feel empowered and much more in control of the process, as opposed to having a judge decide the outcome for them.
• Children are protected. The children are kept out of the middle of the divorce process, and the parties are given every opportunity to develop a positive parenting plan.
• Cost effective. Collaborative Family Law is typically much more cost effective than litigation.

We will meet with you to discuss your options and help you decide if you are a good candidate for Collaborative Divorce. Then, you and your spouse will select your team members. A Collaborative team is ideally comprised of a divorcing couple, two collaborative lawyers (one for each partner), two divorce coaches (one for each partner), a neutral child specialist, and one neutral financial specialist.

These Collaborative professionals will help you achieve an outcome that would not be possible without the cooperative team involvement. It is also important to know that as your advocate, we will always have your best interests in mind. Collaborative Family Law safely lowers the conflict of divorce, so you can reach a settlement with your dignity and the emotional well-being of your children intact.

Our Collaborative Family Law practitioner

Shawn Weber has intensive training in alternate dispute resolution and specific training in Collaborative Family Law. He is also a family law attorney and mediator. A board member of the Collaborative Family Law Group of San Diego, Shawn strongly believes in the potential this alternative form of dispute resolution offers families.

Click here to find out more about how Collaborative Divorce works.

Click here to read "The Collaborative Divorce Team" article written by Collaborative experts Pauline H. Tessler and Peggy Thompson, authors of Collaborative Divorce.

To download a PDF version our comprehensive, 28 page, Collaborative Divorce Guide click here.