So often, we hear divorce horror stories. A couple spends months, or even years, in court battling over assets, property and their own children. They drain their savings and neither party gets what he or she wants in the end. Children are left angry and hurt. No one wins.
The good news is that a divorce does not have to proceed like that. Two people who shared a life together can decide to take the high road when ending their marriage, saving a lot of money and maintaining respect for one another.
What is collaborative law?
One way that this kind of divorce can be achieved is through collaborative law. The collaborative law process results in a binding divorce agreement, but the agreement is reached outside of the court process.
Instead of arguing over issues in court and letting the judge make the final decisions, collaborative law leaves the decision-making power with the parties, who can create a unique settlement that caters to their individual family’s needs. Other benefits of the process include:
- The process is especially useful for divorcing couples with children, who will need to remain in each other’s lives as their children grow up and have children of their own.
- Collaborative law offers privacy by taking place outside of the public court system, so all divorce documents can be kept confidential.
- Collaborative law recognizes the legitimate needs of both parties in effort to reach a win-win settlement through respectful alternative dispute resolution techniques.
If you are interested in the collaborative law process, meet with a lawyer who is trained in this type of alternative dispute resolution. Not all attorneys offer this kind of settlement option, and it is something that both parties and their lawyers must agree to in order to work.
You can read more about collaborative law in Texas here.