Pasadena Collaborative Divorce

1. What happens if agreement is not reached?
2. How does the practice of Collaborative Divorce affect attorney's fees?
3. Do the parties ever have to go to court?
4. How does Collaborative Divorce focus on the future?
5. Why should I consider a collaborative divorce?
6. How will this differ from the traditional legal process?
7. Do we ever have to go to court?
8. How does Collaborative Divorce focus on our children?
9. How does the Court's Budget Crisis affect my family issues?

1. What happens if agreement is not reached?

If the parties cannot reach an agreement, the collaborative team may suggest bringing in a mediator or other professionals to help facilitate an agreement. If agreement cannot be reached, one or both parties may choose to discontinue the Collaborative Process. At that point, both attorneys are obligated to withdraw from the case. This gives both spouses incentive to settle, to avoid having to start over in the court system, with its attendant time and cost.

2. How does the practice of Collaborative Divorce affect attorney's fees?

Although every case is different depending on such variables as the complexity of the issues involved and the time it takes the parties to come to a meeting of the minds, in general the Collaborative Process should be significantly less expensive than litigation. At the very least the Collaborative Process can avoid such time-consuming litigation proceedings as depositions, examinations of multiple expert witnesses, and the time consumed in Court hearings. Additionally, Collaborative Divorce allows more resources and containment for the many complications of divorce; financial, emotional and legal, and is therefore more likely to succeed in helping the family come to workable and lasting agreements. The fact that the clients are so invested in working out agreements means that they are more likely to persevere in making them work.

3. Do the parties ever have to go to court?

The goal of the Collaborative Process is to resolve all the issues through negotiation and settlement. Assuming that an overall agreement is worked out through the Collaborative Process, a stipulated Judgment will be prepared, submitted to the Court and signed by the Judge without either party ever having to appear in Court. In fact, as stated elsewhere, the collaborative attorneys are committed from the outset to represent the parties only so long as the issues are kept out of Court.

4. How does Collaborative Divorce focus on the future?

Divorce is both an ending and a beginning. Collaborative Divorce helps each of the partners anticipate his or her needs in moving forward, and includes these in the discussions. When children are involved, Collaborative Divorce makes their future a number one priority; and the development of a good, working co-parenting relationship is a major goal. As a more respectful, dignified process, Collaborative Divorce helps families make a smoother transition to the next stage of their lives.

5. Why should I consider a Collaborative Divorce?

The Collaborative Process is a more effective method to resolve your family law issues. When you eliminate the contentious and aggressive Court process, you have an opportunity to resolve your custody, financial and property issues in a fair and cooperative atmosphere, with professionals supporting you in achieving settlement.

6. How will this differ from the traditional legal process?

Family law litigation is based on husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, having to aggressively position themselves against the other in order to "win." This process increases hostility, often creating new arguments and anger. Litigation usually involves extensive lawyer time preparing legal briefs to argue your legal position, long waits at the courthouse waiting for the judge to get to your case, and frequent postponements of court hearings, requiring you to wait even longer to achieve resolutions. These many hours and delays are not only much more costly to you, but significantly add to the frustration of having to go through the legal process in the first place. Your family law issues are not a traditional lawsuit and should not be treated as such.

7. Do we ever have to go to court?

No. WIth the Collaborative Process, you will be able to resolve all the issues through negotiation and settlement. Once an overall agreement is worked out through the Collaborative Process, a written agreement, called a Stipulated Judgment, is prepared and submitted to the court and signed by the Judge without you ever having to go to court.

8. How does Collaborative Divorce focus on our children?

The break up of the relationship of parents is very difficult emotionally for children. You want to resolve the family law issues, whether regarding custody or support, or both, but you also want to shield your children from disputes. In the Collaborative Process, you are able to work with mental health experts, called coaches, who help you achieve resolutions to your disputes and effective co-parenting plans. Using coaches enables a safe environment to express parenting concerns and an informed method to reach resolutions. One of the best parts of the Collaborative Process is the primary use of coaches, and not attorneys, in resolving parenting disputes, Reducing anger and hostility between parents and working towards healthy co-parenting is a gift you give your children and one they will benefit from now and as they grow to adulthood.

9. How does the Court's Budget Crisis affect my family issues?

The California State Budget Crisis has drastically affected the courts. Financial cuts have significantly decreased access to the legal process through traditional court litigation. There have been massive cuts in the court budgets, resulting in reduced court staff, less courtrooms, and thus increased delays and wait times for litigants. For you this means, that if you want to resolve your disputes in court, you will have to wait longer for a hearing date, wait longer on the day of your hearing for your case to be heard, and have substantially longer document processing times. The Los Angeles County Supervising Judge of the Family Law Departments has stated that wait times for hearings, trials and other family law court process are expected to continue. Already the courts in Los Angeles County are closed the third Wednesday of each month, and more cuts and closures are expected. Fortunately, documents sent by cases in the Collaborative Process are given priority.