Collaborative Family Practice

 Collaborative family practice is a new way to offer you and your spouse the support, protection and guidance of your own attorneys without going to court. In addition it incorporates other professionals to help you work together as a team. All four parties, you, your spouse and the attorneys sign a contract which you commit to negotiate a mutually acceptable agreement without having the courts decide on your individual family issues. You further agree to maintain open communication between all parties and share all necessary information. You are committing to make a good faith effort to find a shared solution which is best for you and your family.

How does collaborative practice differ from mediation between parties?

             You  can enter mediation  at the beginning and or at the end of a divorce.   Many attorneys believe in mediation after they have gone through the entire litigation process, including filing, written questions and answers, face to face depositions, interim court hearings and back and forth negotiations between attorneys prior to a mediation. Such a mediation is often a marathon type mediation, which may last 4 – 10 hours, which results in a written agreement, which one attorney then takes to court.

The second type of mediation is one favored by The Mediation Group, where a you and your spouse  meet for a series of two hour meetings over a period of time, resulting in a Memorandum of Understanding. That Memorandum of Understanding is then sent to an attorney who finalizes it and takes one of you  to court. During the meetings, you gather  information about you children, assets and debts  and determine how everything is divided.

In collaborative practice, each of you  has an attorney in four way meetings scheduled over a period of time. Normally a mediator is not present, unless requested. The four or you gather  information, similarly to the mediation process described above. They negotiate with each other as to how the assets and debts are divided and how the children will be parented. The difference is that each attorney is present during the negotiation sessions who can advise you party during that session as their advocate.   In addition, each of you  may or may not have a mental health professional coach, who you  confer with prior to the session or as needed. Similarly to mediation, you botyh  consult one financial professional or one appraiser or any other required professional. 

On  the rare occasion , that  you  cannot come to an agreement through these collaborative practice sessions, your  contract prescribes that you  must obtain new attorneys before you  can proceed to bring your  case to court.

What are the benefits of collaborative practice?

You  retain control of the process.  Everyone takes responsibility to shape the settlement.

You have the support of an attorney throughout the negotiation process, who is your advocate. You have the support of a mental health professional who helps you with the emotional aspects of the divorce.

Without the threat of “being taken to court” you can focus on the settlement, without fear that one person can jump ship very easily and threaten you  rather than negotiate with  you.

The focus of the negotiation is on the future, rather than on the past. If you are able to successfully negotiate a settlement with each other , with the aid of your attorneys, then you will have a less stressful future  particularly where children are concerned.

You are not at the mercy of another attorney who does not believe in the benefits of collaborative practice, as both attorneys will be trained in the collaborative process.

Usually, the collaborative practice is less costly, as most of the work is done right at the sessions. The information gathering is joint and transparent, rather than filling out foms that may be inapplicable to the individual family. It is easy to get the agreement finalized , rather than waiting months for a court date.

The settlement is better than in a traditional divorce process, as the parties and the attorneys are trying to create a settlement that benefits this particular family. Generally the settlements are more detailed and complete than obtained through a court hearing,  thus eliminating any misunderstanding.

How do I find a collaborative attorney?

In The Mediation Group of Tennessee, Marietta Shipley, Jan Walden and Ann Barker have all received training as a collaborative practice attorney. If one spouse uses one of the attorneys, call 292-6069, The Mediation Group of Tennessee. for a list of attorneys who also have collaborative practice training.

How can I find out more information about collaborative law?

There is an excellent website,  www.collaborativepractice.com

This website is the website of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals. It contains a lot of information, as well as helpful videos, audio programs and stories of actual divorces, usuing the collaborative process.   All of this information can be very useful in making your decision to either have a litigated divorce, mediation just with a mediator and attorney at the end of the mediation or a e collaborative practice divorce.