COLLABORATIVE DIVORCE
Introduction to the Collaborative Process
The Collaborative Process focuses on helping the clients in divorce or other family conflict resolve their dispute and reach agreement without going to court.
The client, along with their Collaborative Lawyers and other Professionals, focus all efforts on a peaceful, non-adversarial resolution.
The Collaborative Process is an out-of-court conflict resolution process in which the participants focus their efforts on reaching a mutually acceptable resolution. It is a team-based approach founded on a set of principles that significantly changes the dynamics between clients and engages them outside of the courtroom in an open, supportive, lower-conflict process to find shared solutions.
Central tenets of the Collaborative Process include:
A promise to reach a resolution without court intervention or the threat of court intervention.
Collaborative lawyers have advanced training in settlement negotiations and are focused on supporting a client-driven process. Should the clients choose a different process after engaging in the Collaborative process, the settlement lawyers will transition the clients to an appropriate professional.
A promise by all participants to negotiate in good faith by remaining open and flexible, disclosing all pertinent information and using constructive and respectful communication methods.
While the Collaborative Process has most often been used for divorce, the principles of the Collaborative Process can be used for any conflict, including other areas of family conflict such as disputes over adoptions, elder care, surrogacy, custody and parenting disputes, and modifications of child and spousal support.
How the Collaborative Process Works
When you choose professionals with Portland Collaborative Divorce, you will work with a team of professionals to avoid the arbitrary and uncertain outcomes of Court litigation and to achieve a settlement that best meets the specific needs of both clients and their family as a whole.
Focusing on settlement, the professionals at Portland Collaborative Divorce offer a healthier and more effective forum for the resolution of a couple's divorce or other family issues.
The goals of the Collaborative Process are to help the couple define and implement the settlement that best meets the needs of their family, and to help the parties learn new skills for more effective communication, conflict resolution and post-divorce co-parenting.
Each party is represented by an attorney throughout the process for support, legal advice, and assistance with the legal documents necessary to accomplish a divorce.
In order to accomplish these goals, professionals are available to work together as a team.
A Collaborative Team can be any combination of professionals that the parties choose to work with to resolve their issues.
If the clients start the process by selecting attorneys, the attorneys can help the clients decide which other professionals are best suited to the family's needs. These other professionals might include mediators, family transitions specialists, child specialists, financial specialists, and appraisers.
If the clients begin the process by selecting a mediator, collaborative coach, mental health professional, or financial professional, these professionals can help the clients select attorneys or other professionals that would best fit your family's needs.
All teams will be customized to fit your family's needs. Meet our Collaborative Law Professionals.
THE COLLABORATIVE PROCESS and the MEDIATION PROCESS
Interested in seeing what the Collaborative Process looks like?
View this twenty minute film about a real life couple’s own Collaborative divorce.
Meet the professionals that support them, see the couple in actual meetings, and hear about how they felt about the process.