What are the worst things about Collaborative Law?
The biggest downside to Collaborative Law is that either party or attorney can terminate the process at any time and force both sides into litigation. Collaborative Law takes a lot of commitment from both sides to stick to the process and honor the agreement made at the beginning of the case. This can occur after a great deal of money and time has been spent in the process trying to reach an agreement and after a lot of information has been exchanged. In rare cases, one party will abuse the process to drive up costs or to gather information without the intention to reach an agreement. Collaborative Law can also become extremely expensive in cases where the parties need a lot of work with communication or if the case has complex aspects. In some cases, a Collaborative case can cost as much as or more than a contested litigation case. Unfortunately there is no way to tell at the beginning of the case how much it will cost to reach a resolution.
