Can collaborative divorce stop your divorce from getting nasty?

Written on June 9, 2008 by davesarnacki

The ABA Journalshows how collaborative divorce can help “take the nastiness out of divorce proceedings.”

Jill Schachner Chanen writes (excerpt):
An even more significant development is the growing use of what practitioners term a collaborative approach to divorce cases.

Borrowing principles of mediation, the collaborative approach calls for the parties—and, significantly, their lawyers—to reach a settlement without taking their case to court. This process encourages parties and their attorneys to freely exchange information at so-called four-way meetings. The collaborative process calls for the lawyers to withdraw from the case if a freely negotiated settlement cannot be reached, which requires the clients to retain new counsel to represent them in court.

A collaborative approach can be especially productive in divorces where children are involved and the parents are concerned about maintaining good relationships, Herman says.

He says a collaborative approach, like other forms of ADR, does not always suit the personalities, emotions and goals of clients. But “in the right case, it can be absolutely the right way to go,” he says.

Posted in Gentler divorce