The Collaborative Law (CL) process takes a team approach to divorce. In traditional litigation, the process, including communication between the parties regarding financial matters and child issues, is often left to the lawyers. While lawyers are experienced in all these areas of law, they do not always understand or consider the personal and emotional needs of your family. The collaborative law team can consist of non-legal professionals and allows its members to be chosen based on the individual needs of the family. The members are chosen with input from the parties and designed to provide specialized services in the most efficient manner. The collaborative law process also allows the parties to communicate directly with each other, with assistance from the team, in an effort to identify and solve the issues personal to their situation. The collaborative law model may not financially cost less than traditional litigation, but the resources spent go where they are most needed.

Each party has his or her own lawyer, and that lawyer will assist in making decisions throughout the case. Each party usually has his or her own divorce coach, who is a professional trained to assist each party in their communication with the other. The CL process recognizes that one of the primary reasons people have difficulty working through conflicts is their lack of good communication. The collaborative divorce coach helps each party prepare for meetings. The coach also helps facilitates good communication skills.

To get a case started, each party must hire his or her own Collaborative Lawyer. The parties then meet in a “first meeting” to discuss the process, go over the Participation Agreement and ask and answer what questions they may have. The parties also discuss their goals and interests in the case. If the parties agree, then the PA is signed. At that time, the parties and lawyers will make an agenda for the next meeting and schedule a series of meetings to work through the identified issues.

Each party must comply with the Colorado rules for disclosure of all marital property. All information is exchanged in an informal manner so each party can be as prepared as possible for the next meeting. All issues are discussed in joint sessions, with both lawyers and parties present. Often the parties will decide to use of a joint financial expert to help them make informed financial decisions together. Both coaches and financial experts will meet separately with the parties, but and may or may not attend all of the meetings if it isn’t necessary.

Generally the parties work out the entire agreement prior to filing the case with the Court. They file the case with the court after they have reached a resolution, and submit it their agreements to the Court to sign as an order. This assures that the court will not get involved with the case and allows the two parties to work at the pace that makes the most sense for their particular issues.

If there are children’s issues, the parties have the choice of hiring a neutral child expert if they feel they need assistance in making good the best decisions for their children in this difficult situation.