The Florida Legislature adopted Collaborative Family Law in July 2017 to aid families in resolving divorce and paternity actions without having to proceed through the traditional legal process.
What Is The Collaborative Process?
The Collaborative Process is a method of out-of-court dispute resolution where families use private structure negotiations to identify and resolve issues in divorce and paternity actions. These issues include, but are not limited to, child custody, the division of marital assets and liabilities, alimony and child support. Both parties are required to have an attorney who along with a neutral mental health professional and a neutral financial profession. The mental health neutral assists the parties in constructing a child oriented parenting plan while the financial neutral gathers and analyzes the financial information.
Negotiations are completely private and take place in four-way meetings that include the parties, their attorneys, the mental health professional and the financial professional.
What are the Benefits of the Collaborative Process?
1. Privacy—unlike traditional court proceedings, which are public record, the collaborative process, takes place in private meetings.
2. Control—the clients determine the pace of the proceedings, not the court docket. The clients make the decisions, not the judge.
3. Flexible, Creative Solutions—the collaborative team helps explore creative solutions to parties’ issues that are not limited to what the law allows or to court proceedings.
4. Relationships Preserved—instead of tearing the family apart with an adversarial process, civil relationships are maintained within the family and extended family.
5. Child-Friendly—Conflicts and hostility between parents are damaging to children. By keeping the process respectful, children are protected.
6. Expert Team—you are not relying on just attorneys, there is a team including a mental health professional and a financial professional to support both of you and address critical financial and emotional issues.
7. Cost—a collaborative case can, in may cases, be less expensive than a traditional litigated case.
To learn more about the collaborative process (904) 359-9060 for a free consultation.