Adam B. Cordover has trained hundreds of lawyers, mental health professionals, financial professionals and mediators to offer collaborative family law, a more private and peaceful form of family dispute resolution. Adam is the former president of Next Generation Divorce, a 501 (c) (3) organization and one of the largest collaborative practice groups. Is divorce on the horizon? If so, are you afraid of entering into a contradictory public system in which the husband is played against the wife and mother against the father? Fortunately, there are alternatives. An alternative is the collective divorce process, in which you and your spouse sign a participation agreement stating, among other things, that your lawyers can only be used to help you reach an agreement outside the court. This means that none of you or your lawyer time, energy or accounting time goes into finding opposition, practicing movement, or costly preparation for trial. Collaborative divorce offers an alternative procedure for parties seeking a non-judicial agreement. Collaborative divorce promotes agreement and the free flow of information through private negotiations. Each party hires a lawyer and all four work together in a cooperative, non-contradictory process.

Once you are ready, the lawyers and the parties will meet to lay the groundwork for the trial. This first meeting is an opportunity for everyone to get to know each other and will normally include the verification and signing of the participation agreement, the sharing of divorce objectives, the creation of to-do lists for what comes next, so that everyone can participate effectively, and an overview of the process to ensure that there are no surprises. At this stage, priorities can also be discussed. The benefits of collaborative divorce are manifold, but the most important is its non-contradictory approach. Both parties are able to maintain greater control over the outcome of the divorce and can adapt solutions to the family`s needs and dynamics. The potential to maximize the well-being of each party is much more achievable than in the case of a traditional divorce. Since a disbanding agreement is not normally in anyone`s interest, the process is designed to take into account the needs and concerns of all.