Florida May Be The 12th State To Pass The Collaborative Divorce Act

Many people can claim marital bliss, but how many can claim a blissful divorce? Thanks to Senator Tom Lee, a republican from Brandon, Florida residents may have guidelines set for a peaceful out-of-court divorce or paternity settlement as part of a new bill he is backing. The bill, SB462, known as the Collaborative Law Act, would regulate the practice of collaborative divorces for fairly complex divorce cases that are not being actively contested.

Lee feels that judicial resources are being wasted on the long backlog of divorce matters that can easily be resolved without the unnecessary litigation. He is also for the bill because the long courtroom battles that families have to suffer through impact innocent children.

Lee recently opined in an email, “These cases have significant societal costs, as family law cases are often acrimonious. It is often impossible to shelter the litigants and their dependent children from the dramatic psychological and economic consequences of protracted litigation.”

Though collaborative divorce is already practiced by many family lawyers in Florida, Lee’s bill will establish regulations for the alternative. If Florida passes the law, it will be the the 12th state to do so. Florida’s Senate Judiciary and Senate Rules committees have approved the bill, and its house counterpart, sponsored by Republican Representative Ross Spano of Dover, has passed the House Judiciary Committee and the Civil Justice Committee.

The Collaborative Law Process

Though every case is different, collaborative divorces all follow a similar pattern. First of all, both spouses must consent to the process, and agree that they will consider input from a team of trained professionals on a variety of decisions that must be made. These professional teams consist of lawyers, counselors and accountants and are specifically formed for processing divorces without time-consuming and emotionally-draining litigation.

One of these teams, Brandon’s own Next Generation Divorce, aims to sustain privacy and dignity during divorces. Next Generation’s Ingrid Hooglander, an attorney, explains:

“When we first started hearing about it, I was like, ‘Oh, doesn’t that sound nice?’ Then I went to two trainings and actually really liked the idea. I had a chance to do some (collaborative divorce cases) and it’s actually been very refreshing.”

The collaborative divorce team will consist of the attorneys for each spouse, a neutral financial expert and a neutral, licensed mental health counselor that will act as the facilitator between the parties.

“The facilitator, in my estimation, is the most significant team member. They are in a unique position of connecting on a very personal level with the clients,” says Tanya P. O’Connor, a Next Generation team member and lawyer, “They report to the rest of the team and identify issues that need to be handled.”

Once the parties meet with the financial adviser and are aware of the the total amount of their combined assets, they will sit down with the facilitator to discuss an equitable way to divide what they have. They will also make fair decisions with regard to child custody and visitation. Once everything is settled, the attorneys will draw up the proper papers and submit them to the court.

Emotional Benefits

Many family law professionals suggest the collaborative process as the best solution for most amicable divorces. This is especially true for couples with minor children.

Maitland psychologist Barbara Kelly agrees, “(Collaborative divorce) is better in the long run than traditional divorce, in which a court battle can worsen a relationship so much that it’s tough to co-parent once the dust settles. You’re focusing on the children from the start, and people who have been through it say they came out with communication skills they didn’t have before.”

Since Kelly and other facilitators are neutral mental-health professionals, they are trained to keep all communications positive and to maintain the peace. They work with divorcing couples to put their children’s best interest first when coming up with a parenting plan, rather than using their children against one another.

Rachel Moskowitz became a collaborative divorce facilitator after hearing about Next Generation Divorce from a colleague.

“When I heard about it, I was absolutely on board,” says Moskowitz, a licensed mental health counselor, “I know how bad it is dealing with all the issues involved in divorce before, during, and after, and just how bad typical courtroom litigation is on people. If divorce is the option, collaborative is the best thing, in my opinion, for people. You’re working out issues in a healthy way.”

Brandon family law attorney Mark Moon concurs, “The only reason I don’t recommend (collaborative divorce), is either when the case is very simple with not a lot of issues, or when there are extreme issues … things like domestic violence, hiding money or lying. The collaborative process is based on everybody playing by the rules.”

Financial Benefits

Not only is a collaborative divorce less contentious, more private and faster than a regular divorce, it is also much less expensive. Even though each spouse has their own attorney, they are there solely to provide legal advice, and not to bankrupt the adversary. And remember, all proper collaborative divorce teams include a financial adviser on board to review all marital assets.

Orlando attorney Richard West agrees, “It’s so much better for clients and their families. In my experience it reduces the costs significantly, and the results are better.”

As a matter of fact, each of the lawyers signs an agreement to share all information before the start of the collaborative process, and the couple can back out of the arrangement completely if it fails. However, each will have to retain a new attorney, since the collaborative attorneys are required to back out if the process fails. This is to ensure that collaborative lawyers are working hard to keep everything on fair terms.

Family Law Of The Future

In 1990, Minnesota attorney Stu Webb developed the idea for collaborative divorce once he realized that the actions of divorce attorneys were destroying families, and in the last 25 years, the idea has spread across the United States. In Florida alone, there are nine regional groups of collaborative divorce practices.

Sam Weiss, an attorney in Maitland, pioneered the collaborative movement in the Central Florida area around 2001. He feels that couples should not have to resort to sparring in court if it is not necessary. He states, “It’s become the wave of the future of divorce. Instead of attorneys harping at each other and each party trying to denigrate the other, they’re all on the same page.”

Though many of the attorneys that champion collaborative divorce have spent years fighting to the death in divorce court, they now feel that, in many cases, cooperation and civility are the key to speeding up a non-acrimonious process. After all, if both parties agree about the marital assets, the children and even who receives the china, why should you hire a vicious attorney to chew your ex to bits in court?