While collaborative divorce is not the right fit for every divorce, choosing this approach can help people achieve various goals for themselves and their families. What are the major benefits of collaborative divorce? How might you benefit from a collaborative divorce process?
What is Collaborative Divorce?
What is a collaborative divorce in Florida? If you’re considering a divorce and you haven’t heard of collaborative divorce, it’s time to learn more about your options. The collaborative divorce process can provide families a less combative approach to dissolving a marriage. This is especially beneficial when a divorcing couple has children and must co-parent once the divorce is finalized.
Because collaborative divorce uses a team of professionals who work together to solve problems and plan, it can better help divorcing partners prepare for their futures post-divorce, especially concerning co-parenting, divorce finances, and individual well-being.
Benefits of the Collaborative Divorce Process
Collaborative Divorces Can Save Time and Money
Drawn-out legal battles can be a costly endeavor. However, if you and your spouse can work together, this collaboration might allow you to move forward more quickly and with less cost to you. Since the collaborative divorce cost is lower, this can give you a stronger financial foundation for life after divorce.
During a collaborative divorce, the divorcing couple shares a financial neutral who works on both of their behalf. This differs from a traditional litigated divorce where each party may hire their financial expert to argue for their best interests.
The role of the certified divorce financial neutral is to help the two parties create a financial agreement that meets their needs and considers both parties’ best interests. Often, this goes beyond equal distribution, which isn’t always the fairest way to split community assets or debts. A financial neutral will consider the divorcing couple’s assets and debts, their ability to generate income, their budgets post-divorce, and their plans for the future. Along with a real estate divorce specialist, they can provide feedback regarding budgets and financial matters, such as taxes that may be incurred from real estate sales.
The financial neutral may offer ideas. However, it is up to the divorcing parties to determine what will work best for them. This allows for more creative problem-solving and helps each individual consider their future more realistically. Finances can be a stressful topic under the best of circumstances. In many relationships, one partner is more aware of the couple’s finances and investments than the other.
This can create trust issues and lead to confusion and uncertainty when the less financially aware partner must start considering how they will sustain themselves post-divorce. A financial neutral is an educator for both parties and helps explain finances so everyone is on the same foot.
Collaborative Divorces Offer More Control
In litigated divorce, the court ultimately decides the outcome of the divorce process. By taking a collaborative approach, you and your spouse can focus on the most important details during the collaborative divorce process.
Collaborative Divorces Allow Parents to Create Plans for Children
If you have a child, you and your spouse spend daily with them. The additional control that you and your spouse have in a collaborative divorce process allows you to use that knowledge of your child to build a plan that supports their needs.
Being a parent isn’t an easy task under the best of circumstances. It’s an entirely new challenge when one must learn how to co-parent with an ex and to help one’s children get their footing post-divorce. If desired, a child specialist can join your collaborative divorce team. This individual is specially trained in child development and serves as a voice for the children in your divorce. In addition, they can help you and your co-parent learn new communication skills so you can share necessary information and ease the stress of divorce for your children.
Every divorce that involves children in Florida will require a parenting plan. This in-depth document covers everything from parental responsibility to who makes medical decisions. A child specialist can be an invaluable resource to create an effective parenting plan template with provisions for the future. While both parents will create the plan together, a child specialist can offer ideas to help parents consider their children’s development and future needs (and wants).
Learning to cooperate effectively can be hard when there are already communication difficulties because of the end of a relationship. Ultimately, a new relationship must be formed. During the collaborative process, parents will learn to set boundaries, communicate better, and ensure they keep their children’s best interests in mind. What a co-parenting relationship looks like will vary from family to family. However, the most important thing is that there is a co-parenting relationship and that parents support and encourage their children.
Collaborative Divorces Can Help Protect Your Children
As the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry notes, one of the best ways to protect a child’s mental health during divorce is to minimize conflict between parents. By learning how to co-parent with an ex and working together, you can decrease the strain that divorce can put on your child and lay the groundwork for a more peaceful and supportive co-parenting relationship moving forward.
Collaborative Divorces Can Help Prepare For the Future
Divorce can be trying, even when there is no fighting. The termination of a relationship that one believed would last forever can leave a person with self-doubt, misgivings, and lots of questions.
A traditional divorce does not include any mental health professionals or divorce counseling unless a judge sees the need to appoint one. In contrast, in a collaborative divorce, a mental health professional often plays the role of the divorce coach, helping to keep the divorce process moving forward positively. The process can be sped up or slowed down as necessary to ensure that both parties can partake in the decision-making process as equals.
A divorce coach may help participants bring to light issues and create a safe space for discussing problems. In addition, because of their connection to the mental health community, they may be able to recommend resources to help either party during or after the divorce.
Collaborative Divorce Resources
Collaborative divorce has been around for a while. However, only legal professionals with special training may assist their clients through this process. This means many people never learn that they have this option until it’s too late. Speaking to a Tampa divorce lawyer versed in different divorce processes, including collaborative divorce, can help ensure you select the type of divorce most beneficial to you and your family.
Contact an Attorney to Learn More About the Benefits of Collaborative Divorce
Depending on your goals, a collaborative approach could help you have stronger finances and greater confidence as you take the first steps toward life after divorce. Contact one of our collaborative divorce attorneys in Tampa, Florida, for more information.
