Contrary to popular belief, there are many ways to go through divorce. While some divorces are extremely contentious in nature and require judges and lawyers to arbitrate all of the details, others are mostly-amicable and only require somebody to sign the paperwork. If you are going through a divorce and you fall between these two extremes, you may wish to consider collaborative divorce. According to FindLaw, collaborative divorce is a great option for soon-to-be ex-couples who are able to agree on some, if not most, matters, but require a little extra legal help for certain sticky issues.
In a collaborative divorce, both parties have their own attorneys, and both parties work independently with their own attorney to figure out the negotiation angles that they will take. Remember that collaborative divorce is still about ultimately coming to a compromise, so it is unlikely that you will get everything that you want throughout this process.
Once this is done, both parties and their attorneys will meet regularly to talk about the divorce and negotiate through issues. Through this process, both parties should hopefully be able to come to at least reasonable agreements on all issues and keep the process out of the courtroom.
Collaborative divorce is not a good choice for everybody. Namely, both parties have to be willing to negotiate and compromise to a certain degree, and not all persons going through divorce are on positive enough terms to make collaborative divorce a viable option. However, for couples that are wiling to negotiate, collaborative divorce can save a lot of time and treasure when the final agreements are signed.
