What is Collaborative Divorce
A collaborative divorce is a non-adversarial process by which each of the parties work together to achieve a separation that is in everyone’s best interest. This process includes a team of professionals working for the family. The team consists of an attorney for each member of the couple, a Financial Specialist, a Child Specialist, who is the voice of the children, and two therapists or one therapist, as they may choose to work with the same professional.
In this process the Financial Specialist is the only true neutral, they work for the family and gather all financial information for the family they then use this information to demonstrate the financial outcomes of the couple’s potential agreements. It is then up to the couple and their attorneys to decide which financial path is the most viable for the family.
The Collaborative Divorce Process
Education is a critical component of the Financial Specialist role, they are charged with ensuring the understanding of the long and short term ramifications of decisions that are made during an extremely stressful and challenging time in one’s life.
The intention behind this process is to not only decrease costs but also decrease the destruction that is typical in a traditional divorce. If you have children you are forever a family, it just looks much different post-divorce.