The Collaborative Divorce
As divorce has become less and less of a stigma in our society, many people have found that they consider divorce preferable to staying in an unhappy marriage. In years past, when a spouse had to be considered at-fault for a divorce to go through, court proceedings could be bitter and prolonged as one spouse sought to emotionally or financially hurt the other. But today, many people considering divorce just want to move on with their lives as quickly and painlessly as possible. Because of this, new kinds of divorces have been created in which spouses work together to make the divorce as seamless and painless as possible.
The collaborative divorce is this sort of proceeding. In it, divorcing couples work towards a fair and equitable divorce by engaging in a series of meetings with each other and their lawyers, often accompanied by neutral experts. The primary purpose of these meetings is to establish the respective goals and priorities for both parties and to create a tailored divorce that fulfills as many of these as possible through compromise.
The Participation Agreement
The collaborative divorce is defined by its adherence to a Participation Agreement, which is a contract signed by all the participants in the divorce meetings. The main points are:
- If the collaborative process fails, the lawyers will not litigate the divorce. This is to make sure that the lawyers do not have ulterior motives.
- Neither party will take advantage of mistakes or errors on the part of the other party.
- All important information will be freely shared between parties and neither party withholds information, even if it could be damaging.
- Everything said during the meetings stays in the meetings.
- All experts are hired jointly and remain neutral.
- All parties act in good faith.
Contact Us
If you and your spouse are interested in a collaborative divorce, contact the Boca Raton divorce lawyers of Eric N. Klein & Associates, P.A., by calling 561-353-2800.
