What are the benefits of a collaborative divorce?
Divorcing spouses will often carry around feelings of hurt and confusion. It can be easy to be swept away by these feelings, fueling a desire for revenge or the need to defeat the other spouse in the divorce. Before you commit to the litigious route, it is important to consider what litigating your case might cost you, both financially and emotionally. If you are able to set aside the hurt and ego involved in divorce, you may find that you and your ex-spouse can go down the path towards a collaborative divorce. Our Midland, Texas divorce mediation lawyers discuss the benefits of collaborative divorce and what it takes to make a collaborative divorce work below.
What is a collaborative divorce?
A collaborative divorce is a settlement process that blends the traditional divorce process and divorce mediation. In a collaborative divorce, each spouse will hire his or her own attorney who will represent their interests, like in a traditional divorce. Each spouse and his or her attorney will agree to use cooperative techniques to reach a resolve. During the divorce, the parties will meet several times to attempt to reach a settlement as to the major issues in the divorce. Outside professionals, such as financial specialists, will be brought in as needed. If a resolution cannot be found, then the matter will need to go the litigation route.
Collaborative divorce differs from mediation in that in mediation, one neutral third party will help guide the spouses towards resolving the divorce. Lawyers are not required to be involved, but many spouses will want an attorney to help be their advocate.
How to Achieve a Successful Collaborative Divorce
Resolving your divorce with a collaborative approach can be of tremendous benefit. Traditional litigation is expensive, time consuming, and tends to bring up negative feelings. A collaborative divorce, on the other hand, can potentially be achieved swiftly and at a lower cost. Further, the positive feelings that stem from the collaborative divorce may help you to move forward without continued ill will.
To succeed in your collaborative divorce, you will need to be able to set aside your personal animosity, if it exists, towards achieving the greater goal. You cannot seek simply to “win.” You will need to work together with your soon to be ex to reach an agreement you can both be happy with.