Divorce Needs and Options
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What Are Your Divorce Needs?
Our interdisciplinary divorce professionals are committed to providing you with the appropriate services to help you resolve your issues. The five phases will help you identify your overall needs.
- Decisions: When you are contemplating divorce, separation, custody issues or modification of previous agreements, there are many decisions to make. CCD attorneys, Divorce Coaches and Financial Neutrals help individuals and couples assess their options and evaluate issues in a confidential and honest process.
- Filing: If you decide to proceed with divorce, separation or modification of an existing order, CCD Attorneys will help you process your paperwork appropriately.
- Negotiating: CCD professionals will help empower you to negotiate effectively toward agreements and resolution of your family law issues. Coaches, especially, are trained to help you communicate more respectfully and openly, as well as to co-parent more peacefully. The Financial Neutral will provide summary reports, create budgets and review your financial picture so that you have all the data to come to agreement. The Attorney will address the legal aspects of the terms you agree on.
- Agreements: We are committed to helping couples make workable and lasting agreements, agreements that meet the needs of the whole family, especially the children. Agreements that may be necessary are: equitable division of assets and debts, child-centered parenting plans (considering developmental stages), legal custody, child and spousal support, and final stipulated judgments.
- Post-Divorce: Families may need help in implementing, managing or modifying their agreements as time goes on. CCD professionals are available for help with future stages of your family's restructuring process, such as stepfamilies, new developmental stages of the children, changes of circumstances such as decrease or increase of income, etc.
What Are Your Options?
When most of us are faced with a separation or divorce, we feel intense emotional responses. Often there are feelings of loss, sadness, depression, anger and fear. It is important that we recognize that divorce is a process that involves emotional issues, financial issues and legal issues. All of these areas are very important and ignoring any of them will not be in your best interest.
In considering how you will approach your divorce (also referred to as dissolution of marriage), or separation, there are several processes that you may want to consider. The goal is to find a process that will meet your needs while minimizing the emotional and financial impact of separation and dissolution. You will find a brief description below of each process.
In considering how you will approach your divorce (also referred to as dissolution of marriage), or separation, there are several processes that you may want to consider. The goal is to find a process that will meet your needs while minimizing the emotional and financial impact of separation and dissolution. You will find a brief description below of each process.
Mediation is a process in which the separating or divorcing clients hire a mediator to assist as a neutral in resolving the issues. The mediator does not act as an advocate but as a facilitator who helps the clients reach agreement. The mediator helps the problem-solving process by assisting in generating options for resolution. Mediation is a confidential process. Mediators often work in conjunction with other professionals such as Mental Health Practitioners who can assist as Coaches or Child Specialists, and/or with Financial Professionals who can assist with budgeting, financial planning, valuation of businesses, and cash flow analysis. It is very important that your mediator know family law and family law procedure. When interviewing a mediator you should inquire as to his or her background and experience in family law. If your mediator is not an attorney, it is strongly recommended that you seek the advice of an attorney prior to signing any document which will have an impact on your rights and responsibilities. Even when working with a mediator who is an attorney, a party may elect to work with a consulting attorney to provide advice, evaluate offers or review the final settlement at any time in the mediation process. Mediation is considered an economical process of dissolution, since both parties often share the expense of one attorney mediator and then retain consulting attorneys for review or advice on a limited basis.
Collaborative Practice involves each client retaining a Collaborative Attorney to represent her/him throughout the process of separation/dissolution. Collaborative Practice cases involve a team of professionals who assist clients depending on their needs. Coaches from the mental health profession are used to address emotional and communication issues, thereby facilitating the process. A separate Mental Health Professional, the Child Specialist, may be retained to work with the parents on a developmentally appropriate timeshare plan and will see the child or children to represent their needs to the team. A Financial Neutral can provide services to help with resolving financial issues. The linchpin of the Collaborative process is that both clients along with their attorneys sign an agreement which states that they are committed to resolving the issues of the dissolution without going to court. If either of the clients chooses to go to court, the collaborative team will be out of the case. All the professionals are committed to working toward a resolution without court. It is very important that when you retain any professionals to work with you on a Collaborative case, you inquire as to whether they have obtained special training in the Collaborative process which differs significantly from the traditional approach to dissolution. The team supports the clients legally, financially and emotionally to create their marital settlement agreement. The preparation and structure of a Collaborative case creates a streamlined path to agreement. There are many cost-saving features to Collaborative Practice: for example, the expense of experts is shared. Legal fees for Collaborative law cases are often significantly less than for litigated cases (when the parties have to argue in court). However, the emotional and relational benefits go far beyond any financial savings, since a major focus in the Collaborative Process is to create more respectful and effective ongoing relationships within the restructured family.
A Consulting Attorney can assist you in Negotiation and Settlement to reach resolution of issues of dissolution. The consulting attorney will work with you during mediation to reach a settlement of the issues in the case without going to court. In this process the consulting attorney may review proposals, hold meetings or use other strategies to reach settlement on behalf of one client.
Litigation describes cases which require the intervention of the court. The clients are unable to reach agreement on how to resolve the issues of their dissolution, and a judge must issue orders to decide matters. This process is generally the most expensive and may be necessary if one or both of the parties is unwilling or incapable of negotiating in the best interest of the children or in a manner that takes into account the needs of both clients. Professional participants of Coalition for Collaborative Divorce work together to assist families to resolve issues regarding separation and divorce without going to court whenever possible. However, if you need to go to court, one of the CCD professionals may be able to assist you or refer you to other professionals.
Please contact participants of Coalition for Collaborative Divorce for additional information or to schedule an appointment to discuss your options.
Please contact participants of Coalition for Collaborative Divorce for additional information or to schedule an appointment to discuss your options.