The collaborative family law process is a relatively new way of dealing with family disputes. Each person has their own lawyer but instead of conducting negotiations by letter or phone you meet together with your respective lawyers to resolve matters face to face.
This process enables you and your separating partner to achieve a mutually agreeable and lasting solution without involving the court.
You will both have the support, protection and guidance of specially trained collaborative family lawyers and other experts such as counsellors, family consultants and financial professionals who are as committed to the process working as you are.
The work to achieve the settlement is carried out in meetings when you will both have your solicitor present. The common goal is to reach a settlement against a background of mutual respect.
The aim of collaborative law is to resolve family disputes without going to court and with your family lawyer to reach a fair agreement.
Why choose Collaborative Family Law?
The possibility of resolving issues on the breakdown of your relationship through the collaborative process may appeal to you and your partner for a number of reasons.
Collaborative law can enable you and your partner to retain a level of communication which could be important where you will need to retain contact in the future, for example in relation to your children.
If you would like to resolve matters directly with your partner but do not have the confidence, or feel you have the necessary ‘know-how’, Collaborative law enables you to negotiate face-to-face but with the security of having your solicitor present.
The environment within which the Collaborative process takes place is non-aggressive, so ideal if you want to end your relationship with the minimum of conflict.
Collaborative law offers you the opportunity of being active in resolving the issues between you and your partner and can give you a sense of control over your future.
Collaborative cases are often resolved more quickly than those dealt with by more traditional means and can be less costly than proceeding through the court system.
How do I find out more about Collaborative Family Law?
If these are things important to you, why not give one of our specially trained Collaborative Lawyers a call to find out more?
How Collaborative Family Law Process Works
You and your partner each instruct your own trained collaborative lawyer.
All negotiations are done in face-to-face meetings (called “4-ways”) with you, your partner and the two lawyers working together to resolve the issues. You each receive support outside the 4-way meetings with your own Collaborative Lawyer.
The first four way meeting:
- At the first four way meeting the lawyers will make sure that you both understand that you are making a commitment to working out an agreement without going to court and you will all four sign an agreement to this effect. This is a called a Participation Agreement.
- You and your partner are invited to share your own objectives in choosing this process and you will all plan the agenda for the next meeting.
- You and your partner discuss and disclose all relevant financial and other information openly and honestly through the collaborative process and this can be dealt with at a subsequent meeting.
- You talk about what matters to you and at your own pace.
Further four way meetings:
- Further meetings will deal with your respective priorities and concerns. This could include, for example, looking at other professionals to assist such as pension experts or accountants; or professionals to help the children understand and cope with the changes in the family.
- The meetings will enable you to reach agreement on how the finances will be shared or what arrangements need to be made for any children. If you have children their interests will be at the heart of the process.
The final meeting:
- In the final meeting the documents recording the agreement will be signed and your lawyers will discuss with you through anything else to implement the agreement.
You cannot go to court during this process apart from dealing with uncontested divorce proceedings and getting court approval for the financial agreement that you reach.
If you cannot reach agreement and have to ask the court to intervene each of you will have to instruct a different lawyer.
One of the benefits of the collaborative process is that it is not driven by a timetable imposed by the court. So to a large extent the process can be built around your family’s individual timetable and priorities.
Your collaborative lawyers are there to provide support, guidance and legal advice both in and outside the 4-ways. Although the lawyers are committed to helping both you and partner reach a settlement, your lawyer still has a professional duty to advise you personally. Other experts such as counsellors, family consultants, accountants and financial professionals can be brought in to assist if everyone agrees that this is needed or would be helpful.
