What is Collaborative Divorce?
Spouses who decide to collaborate to achieve a divorce settlement that does not destroy their family or finances often call our office and tell us they want a collaborative divorce.
It is important to understand the difference between a couple who wants to collaborate to get a divorce settlement versus divorce attorneys who market themselves as a collaborative law divorce attorney. These attorneys market themselves as practicing collaborative law, a type of law that helps couples get a collaborative divorce.
Collaborative Divorce
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How is Collaborative Divorce Different From Collaborative Law Divorce?
- A collaborative divorce process with Arons & Associates Divorce Mediation is controlled by the spouses with the goal of reducing the stress, time, and cost of divorce
- A collaborative law divorce process is controlled by attorneys and their team of professionals
In a collaborative law divorce process, couples work with a team of professionals to achieve a settlement. This team typically consists of an attorney for each spouse, a mental health professional, and a financial professional. Each professional requires a retainer to be paid before any work is started. Each attorney retainer is typically a minimum of $3,500. The mental health and financial professional retainers are typically a minimum of $2,500. So, before the professional team starts to work on the case, the spouses will typically pay $12,000.
The divorce team of professionals will have meetings without the spouses to discuss the case. These one-hour meetings will cost the spouses approximately $1,200.
Because the collaborative law divorce process involves four professionals plus the two spouses, juggling the schedules of six individuals to arrange meetings typically results in the divorce process lasting longer than the spouses anticipated. And a longer divorce process will result in more professional fees.
As the Financial Professional on my Collaborative Law team, Sandy helped us understand our financial reality. This gave me a tremendous peace of mind for the future. The fee I paid to Arons & Associates was money well-spent. Thank you Sandy for all your hard work!
Collaborative Divorce Without High Professional Fees With Arons & Associates
Our services are well suited for couples who desire to collaborate together to achieve a divorce settlement and:
- Control the divorce process rather than the attorneys controlling the process
- Reduce the stress of multiple meetings with the collaborative law divorce team
- Reduce professional fees
- Reduce the duration of the divorce process (coordinating the schedules of four busy professionals and two spouses just takes time)