How is collaborative law different from traditional legal divorce proceedings?
A contested divorce proceeding, in the eyes of the law, is a civil lawsuit much like other civil lawsuits. Traditionally, one party serves the other with legal documents that ask for everything a court could possibly award them. The other party responds with a counter-suit, asking for the same awards from the court. Both parties, through their attorneys, file their respective documents then wait for a series of court hearings to move the case forward over a period of months or even years. Attorneys, for the most part, have been trained to conduct this sort of conflict and have resisted the difficult work of meeting with couples to do conflict resolution that focuses on future success for the entire family. Negotiation in conventional divorce is usually done through the parties’ respective attorneys – a process that is often lengthy, bitter, and filled with “win-lose” proposals. Typically, the proposals do not solve the problems, so the issues must be submitted to a judicial officer for
