California Lawyers Handling Cases Through Collaborative Law

When attempting to resolve contentious divorce issues, there are a number of ways to proceed. You can always pursue traditional litigation, but this will cost you both time and money. It can also create additional animosity between you and your spouse. Another option is mediation, but sometimes one or both spouses do not feel comfortable negotiating the issues of their divorce without his/her attorney present. For those divorcing couples that like the idea of mediation, but do not want to litigate, a form of alternative dispute resolution called collaborative practice is a perfect option. It involves professionals that are all trained mediators, and each professional has very specific roles.

What is Collaborative Practice?

Collaborative Practice is a commitment to strive for solutions that take into account the interest of ALL family members. It is client centered, clients are intimately involved in the entire process, and the clients control the outcome. It involves an honest, voluntary, and good-faith exchange of all relevant information, and the entire process is confidential. The parties and their respective trained collaborative practice attorneys enter into an enforceable Collaborative Practice Agreement that states that the parties will not litigate or file motions with the Court, it outlines the guidelines and expectations of the parties and professionals involved, and it requires that all professionals must be disqualified from the case if it proceeds to litigation. This means that each party will need to obtain a new attorney if the process fails.

Collaborative Practice is a divorce option that is tailored to fit all the needs a family has when going through a divorce, and puts a team in place to make the divorce process as smooth as possible. An added benefit is it saves the family money because it is not as expensive as litigating. Like mediation, all information exchanged usually occurs at working sessions of 1-3 hours in length, and the entire process is completely confidential. The confidentiality is important because it means that there will not be personal information and pleading with very personal information filed with the Court which becomes public record.

Unlike the typical litigation model where each party has their own attorney, and if either side wants a resolution to an issue they have to file a motion with the Court or set the case for trial, in the Collaborative Divorce the divorcing couple is empowered to simply address the issue during a working session and the team of professionals will educate the parties and work towards resolving that issue right away. Just like in mediation, the spouses are the decision-makers, but each spouse has his/her own team (collaborative attorney and possibly divorce coach) to guide that spouse in the right direction.

The collaborative law process is based upon the belief that if parties are similarly committed to full disclosure, settlement and the avoidance of litigation, they will be more than able to reach mutually satisfactory agreements.

Collaborative law is an effective way to minimize anxiety for the parties, and especially for the children. By working together, parents can show their children that they are still very involved in their lives and that they are committed to functioning as a family.
In a collaborative practice case, each spouse is represented by a lawyer who is trained in mediation, and hopefully specifically trained to handle a collaborative law case as the attorney here are Miller & Associates are. The Attorney protects their client’s interests and addresses any issues in a non-antagonistic manner. The process frequently involves multiple conferences in order to reach an acceptable agreement. In the event an agreement cannot be reached, the attorneys must withdraw from their representation and the separating couple must retain new attorneys to represent them in court.
To discuss how a collaborative divorce may benefit you or to learn more about how the collaborative law process works,� contact  Miller & Associates. A member of our legal team will outline your options and discuss your options moving forward.

How do I know if Collaborative Practice is right for me?

The Collaborative Practice model is used in any type of case. At Miller & Associates, we handle Collaborative Law cases dealing with divorce, legal separation, any post judgment support or custody modification.

Collaborative Practice is a fit for you if you desire to keep attorney fees down, want to resolve your issues out of Court, want a full and free flow of information and communication going both ways, and want to minimize the emotional impact of the proceeding to you and/or your children.

Who is involved in a typical Collaborative Divorce?

In a collaborative divorce, a team is put in place for each spouse. The goal of this team is to make the divorce process as amicable as possible and to put an agreement in place that each spouse can live with and that is best for the entire family. The team typically includes:

• A divorce coach for each spouse. Divorce coaches assist clients in identifying and articulating interests and goals, they help the parties focus on a positive vision for the future, the provide information and guidance on marital transition, and they assist in stress management and recognizing/managing emotions. They also facilitate teamwork, help create a parenting plan, improve a spouse’s capacity to communicate effectively, and help the client participate effectively and efficiently in the collaborative process. The parties are not required to have a divorce coach, but it is recommended. Many times divorce coaches are hired in mediation or litigation cases to help control the emotions of either or both parties.
• An attorney for each spouse that is also a trained mediator and preferably trained in handling collaborative divorce cases. Attorneys are involved to educate and counsel their respective clients, to manage conflict, to guide interest-based/principled negotiation, and to assist the parties in implements agreements.
• A neutral financial expert. If the parties agree to hire a financial expert, his/her function is an objective neutral that intakes and organizes necessary financial documentation and information for the team, assist clients and lawyers in generating options and understanding current and future financial impacts of each option, provides compilations and projections as needed, and assists the clients in education of various financial issues related to a divorce.
• Child specialist. If the parties agree to hire a child specialist, his/her role is to provide a safe place for the children to share their story, ask questions, and discuss their concerns. They also help parents understand what their children are experiencing and provides positive suggestions, provides parenting education on child development, separation and divorce issues, helps the parents communicate, and helps the parents create a workable parenting plan that meets the needs and interests of their children.

Through the collaborative law process, divorcing spouses work together to reach mutually acceptable solutions.

At the law offices of� Miller & Associates , in Rocklin and Folsom, we provide clients with comprehensive family law representation throughout the entire collaborative divorce process. We will always sit down with our clients to determine if resolving their dispute via alternative dispute resolution is in their best interests.

How do clients benefit from this Collaborative Practice Team?

• They save money because they are not litigating.
• Client centered
• Clients control the ultimate outcome
• Clients are involved in the entire process and each party always knows what is happening
• They are empowered to make their own decisions instead of a Judge making the decisions for them.
• The emotional stress if far less than in the litigation model.
• They have the benefit of having anywhere from 2 to 6 professionals all working together to come up with the best possible solution to resolve a particular issue instead of having a Judge decide that very important issue for them.
• Attorneys are trained to work together for the benefit of the family, as opposed to the litigation model where a divorce can become very conflicted and adversarial.

How does the process work?

After each party has decided they want to move forward with the collaborative law process, then the following steps occur, but do not have to be exactly in this particular order:

1. Each party hires their attorney specifically trained as a mediator and collaborative practice attorney. At your free ½ hour consultation with an attorney at Miller & Associates, we can provide you with a flyer that you can give to the other spouse if he/she is still in need of a qualified collaborative practice attorney.
2. The parties will be referred to divorce coaches that each attorney recommends and the parties will meet with the divorce coaches. The divorce coaches will then talk to the referring attorney about whether the client is a good fit for a collaborative divorce and the extent to which a divorce coach should be involved in the process.
3. The first 4-way meeting will be held between the attorneys, clients, and possibly divorce coaches where the collaborative practice agreement will be signed and other organizational issues and concerns will be handled. A discussion of hot button issues and potential agreements on simple issues can also be reached at this firs session.
4. All other sessions will include one of the following topics:
   

   a. Gathering and organizing information needed
   b. Identifying interests of each party
   c. Identifying and brainstorming options for a possible resolution
   d. Reaching agreements that each party can accept, and draft/implement such agreements.

Can I afford a Collaborative Divorce?

In our experience, a collaborative divorce is much less expensive than litigating. In a typical litigated divorce, each party has to pay a sometimes large retainer to their respective attorney. The first retainer is almost always renewed with additional retainers paid to that attorney. In the collaborative divorce process, the collaborative attorneys can take a smaller retainer because they know the parties will not end up going to Court which gets very expensive. So this saves money right away and allows that extra money to be used for a neutral financial expert and possibly divorce coaches.

Then if an expert is needed on an issue, such as a valuation of a business, then each side usually hires their own expert. In the collaborative law process, the parties agree to use a joint neutral which saves them a lot of money.

The divorce coaches we find are important because they help prioritize needs of the parties and calm the emotions of each party so that each party can discuss an issue reasonably and logically. It is good insurance to ensure as settlement is reached. This naturally promotes settlement. In a typical litigated divorce, clients are very emotional, very stressed, have incurred a lot of money in attorney fees and expert fees, and are therefore sometimes not motivated to settle because of the trauma they have already endured which results in anger towards the other party.

Our attorneys at Miller & Associates are members of the� Sacramento Collaborative Practice Group ,� International Association of Collaborative Professionals , and are trained and certified mediators and collaborative practice attorneys. We are dedicated to the effective and peaceful resolution of your collaborative practice case.