Collaborative Divorce Allows Couples to Keep Control in Their Hands

Collaborative divorce gives couples the time and space to be able to avoid courtroom battles and avoid bitterness towards each other. The collaborative method presents the opportunity for spouses to work together to create unique solutions for their divorce needs. If you and your spouse are willing to try and work together, the collaborative divorce process might be the right for you.

In collaborative divorce, each spouse has an attorney who helps them reach an agreement, rather than engage in the adversarial process of fighting, which drags out the divorce process. The spouses and their attorneys then enter into an agreement to work together to resolve all the issues of the divorce, including child custody, child support, spousal support, and property division questions. Using this process, your attorney, and other professionals (if needed) can manage the difficult conversations required to work through all legal issues. Collaborative divorce sometimes utilizes other professionals, such as financial planners to help deal with the financial aspects, and a divorce coach or mental health professional to assist in reducing stress and improving the productivity of the communication between spouses.

Understanding and communicating each other’s needs is important in this process. Best of all, through collaborative divorce, you can keep the decision-making power in your own hands instead of giving that power to a judge who doesn’t even know you. When going through a divorce, oftentimes it feels like your lives are spiraling out of control, but the collaborative method gives you a degree of control over the divorce process and the final outcome. After all, you and your spouse know each other better than anyone else and being able to make the top decisions for each other and for your children is extremely important.

I, Family Law Attorney Hugh O’Donnell, helped introduce the benefits of collaborative divorce to Missouri in 2001. Since that time since, I have conducted numerous advanced training courses for other attorneys who wanted to learn more about the collaborative process and how their family law clients could be helped by it. The collaborative process offers many benefits. I can help you use that process to secure the outcomes you need from your divorce. If you are in the Kansas City Metro Area and believe collaborative divorce is the best solution for you and your spouse, contact me today to schedule a consultation, or feel free to call me at (816) 533-5152 with any questions you have regarding your divorce and how I can best guide you through the process.