What is Collaborative Family Law?
Collaborative Family Law is a newer model of family conflicts resolution. The parties enter into an agreement, along with their collaborative lawyers, that everyone will work as a team to resolve issues without going to court. In traditional litigation the lawyers often act as warriors in a battle. In Collaborative Family Law the lawyers bring their legal knowledge and skills to the table to assist parties in working through issues in the best interests of the whole family. Lawyers must be specifically trained to do this, and a list of trained lawyers can be found on the state website at www.CCLAWP.org.  We are active members of the Rocky Mountain Collaborative Law Practice Group www.rmclp.com.

Collaborative Family Law developed to help willing parties avoid the often painful and damaging process that using the court system can cause. However, the same protections and safeguards are in place in terms of parties having access to all financial and other relevant information in order to make good decisions.

As Collaborative attorneys, we assist the client in many ways by identifying all their needs and getting the appropriate resources to address those needs. Often, the collaborative team will request the services of financial planners, child experts, coaches and others to work with clients when specific needs are apparent. Both parties agree on who these people will be and how they will be used. This can result in less expense than a traditional litigation case, where the parties may each hire their own expert. Often these experts charge substantially less than lawyers, and can provide more efficient services, leaving the attorney free to provide the legal advice clients want and need.

Learn more about the collaborative approach to divorce.  Our What to Expect page provides information about what the process is like and how to get started.  The Basic Concepts page shares some of the underlying approaches which make collaborative different and successful.

We are pleased to provide additional information on Collaborative Family Law upon request.