Category: Collaborative Law

It’s about the ‘collaborative law’ that has been introduced recently. Collaborative law is a new way of resolving disputes off the court. In law assignment writing, such topic comes up often. In this method, any type of dispute, whether it is financial or personal can be solved. It has been proved to be very effective in solving various kinds of disputes.

The process

In the collaborative law method, both the parties have separate attorneys who help to settle the dispute. No one should go to court; otherwise, this process terminates. A contractual agreement is signed between the two parties.

According to the contract, the parties must disclose all the information and documents related to the matter. Each party should respect each other and shouldn’t involve children in the process. If necessary, the parties can take help from outside experts, like real estate appraisers, parenting consultants, etc. The goal of the process is to create a win-win situation for both parties.

Advantages

A case is settled by a team approach in the collaborative law process. The experts in this field are speaking highly of this new law. There are other advantages as well that it makes it a better approach in some cases compared to the court proceedings.

Teamwork

People from different professions related to the case meet together and try to come up with the best solution. For example, in case of a divorce, there will be marriage counselors, psychological counselors, accountants, appraisers, child specialists, and others involved in the decision making. A child specialist will play an important role here. Often, in a divorce, the children become victims. They blame themselves for their parents’ divorce.

A child specialist will help the children understand why their parents are separating and how they can move ahead with their normal life even after their parents get divorced. Here, the children will also have a voice and become a part of the team who are dealing with the case.

Supports emotional issues

One thing the collaborative law process does differently is that it recognizes the importance of emotional issues and understands that it cannot be always addressed by a legal system. Unlike the court, collaborative law brings in the emotional issues and uses the opinions of related professionals to come to a good solution.

Quick and cost-effective

The good news is that more than 90% of all divorce cases are resolved through the collaborative law process. In a court system, it takes a year or even more to resolve the issue. But in this case, it takes a lot less time. The parties here are focused on the resolution and there are less formal steps involved. As the process is more rapid, less cost is involved as well as you won’t have to pay your lawyers or other parties for a long time.

Collaborative law may not work in every case. But when two parties are willing, they should go for this approach. It can result in more rapid settlements at a cost much less than the court settlements. So, it is better for both the parties and it will be a win-win situation.

Family disputes usually end with the home splitting up and the family separating, when the court is involved. To avoid such measures, disputes recently have been solved using Collaborative Law. It is a method to eliminate the court factor and helps the family fight the problem, instead of fighting each other.

A collaborative law method requires both parties to have their attorneys that are tasked to assist them in solving the dispute. The main reason is to avoid court, but if it comes to that, the collaborative process ends, attorneys are dismissed and have no role to play in the case anymore.

It is necessary for both parties to sign and agree to the following terms to be in the Collaborative law process:

Honor Each Other’s Respect
Both parties are to agree to solve matters respectfully and avoid any kind of disapproving or misconduct.

Isolating Children
The law includes keeping the children out of the whole process, as an act to minimalize any impact the divorce would have on them.

All Documents Should be Disclosed

Any document or information that might be helpful, related to the case should be disclosed by either of the parties. Taking advantage of any mistake or miscalculation is prohibited. If there are any errors of this kind, they should be pointed out and corrected.

Sharing Resources
Both parties are to agree to use experts from outside, whenever it deems necessary. It has to be a cooperative act, and the costs of any related expert (e.g., business appraisers, accountants, real estate agents, parenting consultants, vocational evaluators, etc.) is to be share by both parties.

Avoid Court

All of the parties are prohibited to seek court or threaten the other party with any court action, to solve this particular conflict. If any of the parties reach court, the process terminates, and the attorneys are disqualified.

Win-Win Resolutions

The main reason for this whole process is to end the conflict in favor of both parties, by creating a win-win solution for everyone.

Hiring Experts

To solve the disputes in the best possible way, a group of professionals is hired. The conflicts can be financial or legal, but at the same time, there are many family disputes that are emotional and link directly to the mental or psychological health of a person. That is why a team of professionals like unbiased financial advisors, parenting experts, psychologists, appraisers, child specialists or others is assembled if needed.

Financial Experts

Financial Experts are usually clashing with each other in court to get their client the most shares. But in a collaborative process, the financial expert is unbiased and uses their abilities at the best to make sure each of the parties agrees on the division of cost and further conflict is avoided.

Child Specialists

In severe situations like these, a Child Specialist plays a huge role. The job of a child specialist, in this case, is to be with the children and give them psychological support. Kids have a tough time understanding situations like these and often hold themselves responsible for it; a child specialist’s job is to prevent that from happening.

A collaborative law doesn’t work in all cases, but it does on most. There are more than 90% cases that are resolved with this process, according to stats. It saves the family a whole lot of painful experiences and keeps things between them, with the fraction of the usual cost that comes with a divorce. If you want to learn more, click here or follow the link given below on a great explanation of the Collaborative Law by Chicago attorney Sandra Crawford.