14th Apr 2014

Clients often come to our attorneys and ask, “Why should I choose a collaborative divorce?”   Our answer is simple, the ability of the parties to craft the outcome vs. the Court dictating the final terms.  There are still many attorneys who do not understand what collaborative family law is, or how it is fundamentally different from a litigated case.

To depict the difference, we have gathered examples of client generated solutions that would not be available to a Court in a litigated divorce.

     1)  Birdnesting: The children stay in the marital home at all times and the parents rotate residing in a shared apartment.

     2)  Characterizing child support as spousal support.  This option allows couples to maximize tax savings.

     3)  One party agrees to fund a college savings account for the minor child in exchange for a lowered monthly spousal support amount.

These are just a few of the solutions that couples have come up with in family law cases that would not be available in a litigated divorce. The options available to the parties are only limited by what they can agree upon. The options listed above may not be the best solution in many, or even most cases, but they do illustrate the range of options available.

Many traditional family law attorneys, who do not practice collaboratively, highlight the negatives in a collaborative case: 1) agreement of both parties and 2) if there is no agreement the collaborative attorneys are barred from future representation.

While both of these statements are true, they should not intimidate a client from pursuing a collaborative family law case. The reason the collaborative attorney is barred from handling a litigated case goes to the heart of the matter – trust.  If an individual is secure in knowing that statements that they make to a collaborative attorney cannot be used against them by the lawyer in a litigated case, it fosters a sense of trust and openness.

The requirement of an agreement between the parties also goes to the issues of trust.  The parties have to have a genuine desire to settle their case without going to court.  They may disagree on certain issues, but they have to be committed to working through these issues, in a “win-win” context.  Not every case is appropriate for collaborative family law, and if a party believes that a spouse would only utilize the collaborative process to sabotage the case, a traditional divorce may be more appropriate.

Lastly, if one is interested in learning more about the negatives of a traditional divorce, please  contact our office, as the list is too voluminous to list.

If you live in Cincinnati, Hamilton, Clermont or Warren County, Ohio and would like more information about how the collaborative process can help you in your divorce or dissolution please visit www.andrewicelaw.com contact us at 513.651.4227 for a free initial consultation.

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