What are the roles of the collaborative team members?

The Collaborative Lawyers. In the collaborative process, each of the divorcing spouses has a lawyer committed to their needs. However, the lawyers must agree in advance to set aside adversarial strategies and preparations for trial. This then frees the collaborative lawyers to work toward positive, family-friendly solutions without the burden of preparing for trial. If the collaborative process fails, the collaborative lawyers must retire from the case and refer the family to a trial lawyer. Also, the couple agrees that all records, correspondence, case notes, and discussions from the collaborative process are not to be used in any future legal action, other than documents required to be produced in court (i.e., financial statements).

The Divorce Coaches. Each spouse can work with a divorce coach to provide a safety net for the difficult times that may be a part of the divorce and to develop the new co-parenting relationship. This process helps spouses to recognize the end of their marriage and to move on to create fulfilling lives post divorce. When children are involved, divorce coaches teach divorcing parents how to best protect themselves and their children from the risks associated with divorce in the present and to look to the future needs of their family. This work also includes assisting spouses to clarify how they feel and think about issues, improve communication about sensitive topics, and to develop a parenting plan.

Financial Specialist. The financial specialist is a neutral third party who helps sort out the family finances. Divorcing spouses get help with handling immediate financial concerns as well as long-range planning. Parents get help addressing immediate concerns of children and anticipating future financial considerations. The financial specialist helps the couple understand and organize their financial information in advance of meeting with the lawyers. In this way, the lawyers can focus on finalizing a settlement efficiently thereby making the best use of lawyers’ time.

Child Specialist. Most divorces include children. The child advocate is a neutral third party whose job is to understand the situation from the perspective of the children and to advocate for their best interests. Although all team members keep the children’s best interests in mind, the child advocate maintains this focus exclusively throughout, thereby assuring that during complicated and sometimes chaotic divorce processes, concerns of the children are not overshadowed by other, equally important considerations. The child advocate provides an opportunity for the child(ren) to ask questions and to identify problems or worries, and provides information and suggestions to the parents and to the team, especially in the development of a parenting plan.