Collaborative law is a process in which lawyers and specialists – financial, parenting, and others – sit down with a couple who want to divorce and then help them get through the process calmly and confidently. The point of collaborative divorce is for both parties to come to an agreement without resorting to an adversarial divorce proceeding.
Benefits of collaborative divorce process include:
1. Each party to the divorce can explore needs, concerns and goals during the divorce, discovering the best way to approach conflicts and solutions.
2. Everyone involved recognizes that people divorcing actually know what’s best for themselves and their kids, including what their relationship can tolerate, where their conflicts lie, and where agreement and harmony exist.
3. A divorcing couple experiencing communication breakdowns can be guided and then focus again on healthy communication through the help of the collaborative law team.
4. Parties learn to recognize that conflict is normal when tensions and emotions run high. The collaborative divorce team can then coach the divorcing couple on keeping the big picture in mind.
5. Participants in collaborative divorce are allowed to feel safe, empowered, secure, informed and whole in making the right decisions for themselves and their children, staying focused and acting reasonably in everyone’s best interests.
6. Voluntary agreements made in a supportive atmosphere are the best way to go and make for much better long-term outcomes for everyone involved.
7. Collaborative divorce is private.
8. The process itself, with its focus on agreement and shared outcomes, produces more peace going forward than anything a judge might order in lengthy, expensive divorce litigation.
If you have questions regarding collaborative divorce in Washington State, please feel free to contact DuBois Cary Managing Partner Amanda DuBois for an initial consultation. (206) 547-1486.