Collaborative professionals usually work with a team, attorneys and clients deciding which team members to include. The goal is to provide legal and financial expertise, and emotional support during a difficult time.
Family Law is ideally suited for the collaborative process. By working collaboratively families can focus on meeting family members' needs rather than on a destructive court battle. Each person's point of view and concerns are taken into account. Divorcing parents can minimize conflict and work towards solving problems creatively, saving time, energy and money. And they can begin developing the co-parenting skills they will need to raise their children.
Civil lawyers practicing collaboratively can help clients reduce the costs of settling disputes. Avoiding court, the clients can maintain confidentiality and their right to privacy. Clients feel empowered by working actively with their attorneys to achieve a settlement rather than leaving decision-making in the hands of a jury.
Probate/Estate Trust and Will disputes can be painfully divisive to families. Since the parties involved frequently know each other and may well have on-going relationships, they can benefit tremendously from the Collaborative Process by defusing a potential family feud.
Trusts are designed to save family resources and maintain control over property and assets. Litigation can undermine the intended purpose of the trust or at least delay settling the estate.
Financial experts can fill a variety of roles and functions as collaborative team members. Often, the conflicts that people have involve something financial in nature for which the parties are seeking a resolution through the collaborative process of a non-litigation approach to problem solving. Examples of conflicts that are financial in nature and that are resolved in the collaborative process are a divorce where valuation of property needs to be done in order to equally divide property, or a civil matter regarding a neighbor's property easement or, possibly, a probate conflict with the heirs of the property.
Frequently, financial experts are brought into this process to provide expertise and problem solving in order to help resolve the conflicts. The advantage of using these experts in the collaborative process is that the number of financial professionals needed is often reduced, and the confusion and excess cost of battling with multiple experts that often happens in the traditional litigation approach is avoided.
What happens in a specific collaborative case will depend on which financial expert or experts will be brought into the case. A financial expert could be a business appraiser who values a business, a forensic accountant who helps trace separate property claims, a financial planner who helps the parties plan for the future, or a tax expert who helps determine the tax implications of various alternative approaches to resolving the problem.
If financial experts are brought into the case, they become part of the team in finding solutions that benefit all parties. This process provides trained financial experts with solution-oriented goals, as opposed to financial experts who develop adversarial positions in order to persuade a judge, as is often the case in the litigation approach.
Coaches are mental health professionals trained in the Collaborative Process. They assist clients in identifying their concerns and exploring emotional issues that make it difficult to resolve problems. The coach and client also work on communication techniques in preparation for meetings with the other party or professionals from the team. Coaches also address grief, psychological aspects of divorce, co-parenting, family dynamics and other relevant issues. Much of the discussion is future oriented, preparing the client for what lies ahead.
Child Specialists are key team members when a couple with children is divorcing. The Child Specialist's job is to evaluate the needs of the children and offer information to the parents that will help them make plans in the best interest of the kids. The Child Specialist has great flexibility in gathering information. They may talk with children, parents, other family members, teachers, daycare providers, therapists and so on. This assessment is shared with the parents during a five-way meeting with the coaches.
Vocational Counselors can be vital members of a collaborative divorce team by assisting the clients in evaluating vocational skills, earning projections, training or educational needs, as well as labor market conditions. A spouse may need considerable career information and support during the process of re-entering the job market. The results of this assessment are shared with the clients in a five-way meeting with the clients and their attorneys. This information is used to determine issues such as spousal support.
The composition of each collaborative team varies according to client needs. Although initially it may seem costly to hire a team of professionals, collaborative teams are not as expensive as litigated cases. Additionally, collaborative cases can usually be completed in a shorter period of time allowing clients an opportunity to move past the conflict and move on with their lives.
