Harvard Praises Collaborative Divorce Efforts

The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School is perhaps the preeminent source for negotiation information in the United States, if not the world.  This program generated Getting to Yes, one of the most widely read manuals for negotiators. 

So, when this group of experts endorses Collaborative Divorce, we should all probably listen.  This kind of endorsement adds to the argument that older methods of dispute resolution in divorce cases are giving way to newer methods like Collaborative Divorce. 

If the top experts in the field of negotiation recommend the Collaborative Divorce process, it is probably worth considering for your own divorce. 

FAMILY LAW QUOTE OF THE DAY

"The law should, when practicable, encourage the resolution of family issues without resort to court interference."

This quote is taken directly from a North Carolina Court of Appeals decision in a child support case. Even the courts think that most family law cases should be resolved outside of court! This is, in my mind, an admission that the courts are poorly equipped to find the best possible solution to family disputes. Yet another reason that parties should work very hard to resolve family law issues before going to court.

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Collaborative Law - An Introduction

All to often, the parties involved in a divorce emerge from the legal process financially and emotionally devastated. Families and lives are destroyed in the process of ending a marriage. I have had cases where I honestly feared that the grief and stress from the process was going to kill my client.

Some of the negative effects of a divorce cannot be avoided. Grieving for a lost relationship is natural, and will be a part of any divorce. Some degree of financial loss is unavoidable because it costs more to run two households than it does to run one. Divorce is difficult for children of any age because of the unavoidable changes in their lives.

But, contrary to popular belief, divorce does not have to be nasty, ugly and combative. The parties do not have to "jump into the mud" or "take the low road" in order to effectively advocate for their interests and resolve the issues that arise in a divorce.

Over the last few decades, lawyers that had grown weary of seeing clients devastated by the legal process of ending marriages developed a new process for resolving the legal issues that arise in a divorce. That process was based on spouses working together, or collaboratively, to resolve the issues of property distribution, financial support, and the parenting and financial support of children. That process became known as Collaborative Law.

Through the next series of posts, I will describe the structure and process of Collaborative Law. I will also explain the tremendous benefits of the Collaborative Process. Hopefully, by the end of the series, I will have shed some light on this process so that more divorcing couples will explore this option before waging war on each other.

In my next post, I will provide an overview of the actual structure and mechanics of the collaborative process.