The Role Of A Collaborative Divorce Attorney In The Collaborative Team
A collaborative divorce attorney plays a significant role in the collaborative team. As a specially trained professional with experience negotiating agreements and often mediation, the attorney is knowledgeable and experienced in family law and the collaborative divorce process. They help clients explore available options to resolve issues regarding division of marital assets and debts, parenting plans and financial support.
The collaborative divorce team often consists of a collaborative divorce attorney for each spouse, a neutral divorce financial planner, a mental health professional who serves as a divorce coach/child specialist who offer targeted legal, mental health and financial support. Unlike traditional divorce, the collaborative team focuses on problem-solving without conflict, supporting both clients in reaching a settlement agreement. The collaborative team seeks to understand what is important for each client and the family, without judgment, ultimatums and negative criticisms.
As an integral part of the team, a collaborative divorce attorney is a problem solver, not an adversary, and works in partnership with the opposing lawyer. They don’t take an aggressive approach in order to get a better deal for their own client, and they don’t threaten or insult the other parties. Rather, they encourage the highest good-faith problem-solving approach and look for constructive ways of addressing both their client and their spouse’s concerns, finding solutions that are satisfactory to both.
The collaborative process is complex and detailed and the collaborative divorce attorney, as an advocate for their client, assists in gathering and analyzing information and evaluating consequences and limitations of possible solutions. Importantly, the attorney is instrumental in changing how the couple’s children experience the divorce process and the changes in their lives. Because divorce can have ripple effects across generations that expand to include extended family, a conscientious, compassionate divorce attorney can help clients end their marriage in a way that helps them to maintain a sense of family.
Your collaborative divorce attorney will inform you of all of your rights and responsibilities as well as the financial consequences of the divorce. They will assist with parenting and communication issues, and provide relevant legal information and guidance as you and your spouse negotiate a settlement based on compromise and mutual consideration. Further, the attorney will help prepare the required legal documentation of the agreement and file divorce papers.
For many couples seeking to obtain a divorce, the collaborative process can help you avoid going to trial, reduce conflict, and save money. The benefit of an experienced, professional collaborative divorce attorney can be your best option. Nathalie Elliott, with her extensive knowledge and experience in handling cases for clients in both Kansas and Missouri, can provide a better way of dissolving your marriage. For more information about collaborative divorce, call the Family Law Practice at Levy Craig at (816) 454-7474.
