The traditional legal approach to many family law matters is adversarial and often highly contentious in nature. The collaborative process seeks to provide a non adversarial way for parties to resolve their issues by working together, often with the assistance of a team of professionals, in order to bring about a fair, efficient, and comprehensive resolution of all issues. One of the more important distinctions between the traditional and collaborative approach is that, when parties agree to enter into the collaborative process, they are also agreeing to stay out of court. This means that if the collaborative process should break down, none of the collaborative team members, nor the parties’ respective collaborative attorneys, can participate in any subsequent court proceeding. The collaborative process seeks to address both the legal and the emotional consequences inherent in most family law matters. As children are often the most adversely affected by contentious family law disputes, they are also typically the big winners of any successfully collaborated resolution.
Not every situation is suited to the collaborative law approach. The collaborative process requires honesty, good faith, and the ability to work with others as part of a team. Both parties must be willing to use and embrace the collaborative process in order for it to work. To learn more about the collaborative process, and how the attorneys at Collins Berman, P.C. can assist you through this process, please follow this link.