Compassionate Guidance Through Difficult Personal Times

Settle Your Legal Matters Out Of Court With Collaborative Law

Last updated on June 17, 2026

Do you want respect, control, freedom to express yourself, attention to your needs and interests, creativity in problem-solving, good results for your children, cooperation, attention to your timeline for resolution and satisfied parenting outcomes? If yes, then you need to consider the collaborative law process to resolve your family law issue.

What Is Collaborative Law?

Collaborative law is a process where divorcing or separating parties, along with their attorneys, commit to resolving their dispute respectfully and without going to court. It focuses on identifying and addressing the key concerns and interests of all parties involved, rather than taking an adversarial approach.

Notably, collaborative law focuses on the concerns that are important to you, not a court or judge. It is a more respectful process where you have more control over the outcome than in the traditional model of divorce.

Collaborative divorce has a 90% success rate of settlement, and when you leave the collaborative law process with a settlement, your relationship with your child or children is better. Collaborative law outcomes are better for children than the traditional model because you have a mental health professional as part of the process. Collaborative law brings satisfied parenting outcomes through a respectful process.

The Collaborative Team: Addressing Family Law Issues With Professional Help

In the collaborative law process, a team of professionals works together to support and guide the parties through the resolution process. This team typically includes:

Collaboratively trained attorneys representing each party
A neutral financial professional to assist with financial matters
A mental health professional to help with communication, emotional support and co-parenting issues
Other professionals, as needed, such as child specialists or appraisers

Each member of the team brings their expertise to the table, ensuring that all aspects of the dispute are addressed comprehensively and effectively.

Collaborative law is a respectful process where you have the freedom to express yourself in the case. Collaborative law gives you an opportunity to express yourself. We will talk to you about what it means to have your spouse or co-parent cooperate with you in this process, what cooperation means to you and how professionals can exemplify cooperation to help you create a cooperative process.

You have control over the process, and attention is paid to your needs and interests in collaborative law. We will talk to you about what it means for you to feel respect in your family law process and what it would look like to you for the attorneys to also be respectful in your family law process. We will talk to you about what control in your family law process looks like to you and what you need to feel control in your family law process. We want you to feel that you have control over your process.

A Breakdown Of The Collaborative Law Process For Divorce

The collaborative law process for divorce typically involves the following steps:

Both parties and their attorneys sign a participation agreement, committing to resolving the matter through the collaborative process and avoiding litigation.
A series of meetings are held with the full collaborative team present, including the attorneys, financial professional and mental health professional.
During these meetings, the team works together to identify the key issues, gather information and explore options for resolving disputes related to property division, spousal support, child custody and other matters.
The financial professional provides guidance on financial aspects, while the mental health professional facilitates communication and addresses emotional and co-parenting concerns.
Through open negotiations and creative problem-solving, the team helps the parties reach a mutually acceptable settlement agreement.
If a settlement cannot be reached, the collaborative process is terminated, and the parties must hire new attorneys to represent them in court.

In a collaborative divorce, we will explore how you solve the problems you bring to the division of assets and debts. Collaborative law is creative. We can be creative in the process of dividing your assets and debts. We can tailor an agreement to your needs with the help of a financial professional.

We will explore the timing that you want for your family law matter upfront and attempt to meet the pacing you want in this process based on your needs. We will talk to you about how fast or slow you want to move through the process and help manage the matter around your pacing.

Collaborative Law Vs. Mediation

While both collaborative law and mediation aim to resolve disputes out of court, there are key differences:

In mediation, a neutral third-party mediator facilitates negotiations between the parties and their attorneys. In collaborative law, each party has their own collaboratively trained attorney and the process involves a team of professionals working together.
Mediation is generally more informal and can be used for a wide range of disputes. Collaborative law is specifically designed for family law matters such as divorce and child custody.
The collaborative process involves a series of meetings with the full team present, while mediation typically involves shuttle negotiations between the mediator and each party separately.
Collaborative law incorporates the expertise of various professionals, such as financial and mental health experts, to address all aspects of the dispute comprehensively.

While mediation can be effective in some cases, the collaborative law process provides a more comprehensive and supportive approach tailored specifically for family law matters.

Advantages Of Collaborative Law Over Traditional Litigation

The collaborative law process offers several advantages over traditional court proceedings:

Greater control: The parties have more control over the process and outcome rather than leaving decisions to a judge.
Reduced conflict: The collaborative approach emphasizes cooperation, respect and problem-solving, leading to fewer adversarial interactions.
Comprehensive support: The collaborative team provides legal, financial and emotional support throughout the process.
Better outcomes for children: The involvement of a mental health professional helps prioritize the well-being of children and co-parenting relationships.
Privacy: Collaborative law proceedings are confidential, unlike public court hearings.
Cost-effective: By avoiding costly and drawn-out litigation, the collaborative process can be more cost-effective in the long run.

Collaborative law is not therapy, and we cannot change what brought you to need a family lawyer, but we can use a process that strives for cooperation by the client, professionals and team.

Collaborative law leads to satisfying parenting outcomes that are better than traditional litigation. Through collaborative law, you can reach satisfied outcomes in your parenting time arrangement, allocate decision-making authority to your children and protect their emotional well-being.

Collaborative law cannot make the hard time you are experiencing go away, but it is the best process to get through a hard time in your life.

Collaborative law leaves you more satisfied than other more traditional court processes or other settlement processes, and clients who choose the collaborative law process leave it feeling satisfied and state that they would choose it again.

Is Your Divorce Too High-Conflict For Collaborative Law?

Many people assume collaborative law only works for couples who still get along. If your marriage ended with anger, broken trust or constant disagreement, it is fair to wonder whether sitting at the same table is even possible. That worry is understandable, and it deserves an honest response.

The truth is that collaborative law was never built on the idea that you must be amicable. You do not need to like your spouse or agree with their choices to choose this path. What you need is a structure that manages conflict rather than feeding it. The collaborative process is designed to contain strong emotions, not pretend they do not exist.

That structure is exactly what high-conflict situations call for. With a mental health professional guiding communication and trained attorneys keeping discussions focused, tense conversations remain productive rather than spiraling. The process slows things down, separates the people from the problems and keeps both parties working toward solutions. Litigation, by contrast, often rewards hostility and deepens the divide.

If you feel stressed, frustrated or skeptical right now, that does not disqualify you from collaborative law. It may be the very reason it suits you.

Divorce Documents You Can Actually Understand

The paperwork you sign at the end of a divorce shapes your life for years. Yet too many people walk away with a court decree they cannot read or follow. Traditional documents are often packed with dense legal jargon, cross-references and technical phrasing that leave both parties confused about what they actually agreed upon.

That confusion creates real problems later. When a parenting schedule or a property term is unclear, small misunderstandings can grow into new disputes. People end up back in conflict, sometimes back in court, simply because no one could understand the language of their own agreement.

Collaborative law takes a different approach. The final paperwork is drafted in plain, straightforward language that reflects the conversations and choices made along the way. Because both parties helped shape the terms, the agreement reads like a clear plan rather than a puzzle.

This matters well beyond the day of signing. A plain-language agreement becomes a functioning roadmap for post-divorce life, one that both parties can follow without a translator. When people understand their commitments, they are far more likely to honor them. That ultimately reduces the possibility of future battles.