Collaborative Law: A More Civilized Way to Resolve Family Law Disputes

Monday, July 30, 2007
Contributed by: Sally Holt Emerson

Collaborative Law is a new way of handling legal disputes, such as divorce or child custody battles, arising in families. As courts become clogged with a backlog of cases waiting to go to trial, collaborative law attorneys and their clients move forward and get their cases resolved in a very civilized matter and do not have to wait for a court to decide their personal, contested matters.

Basically, a collaborative law case consists of a series of scheduled formal settlement meetings with both parties, their attorneys, and any neutral professionals hired by both parties. At the very first meeting, the parties and their attorneys must sign a collaborative law agreement. The essence of the agreement is that the group commits to settle all matters without having to have a judge do anything except formally approve the parties' agreed orders. The contract provides that, at any time, either party may "opt out" of the collaborative law process if he or she desires to do so; however the penalty is severe: both parties must then go and hire other attorneys to litigate the matter. Neither collaborative lawyer in that case may represent either party in court in that matter.

The Collaborative Law Institute of Texas keeps careful statistics regarding collaborative family law cases. The statistics have shown that, since the passage of the collaborative law statutes as a part of the Texas Family Code in 2000, only about 2% of all collaborative law cases have had a party "opt out" of the process. This statistic indicates that, by a huge majority, most clients are very satisfied with collaborative law as the means of resolving their family disputes.

Once the collaborative law agreement has been signed, the attorneys notify the court that this particular case will be handled collaboratively. The court then by law must place that case on its collaborative law docket and cannot dismiss the case or force it to trial for a period of two years. These requirements create a safe harbor for collaborative law cases so there is no pressure on the parties to make quick decisions. Statistics have shown that, in Texas, the average litigated family law case lasts for 17 months; the average collaborative family law case takes 17 weeks.

There are many other advantages to handling a family law case collaboratively:

  • It takes less time, so it is generally less expensive.
  • There is no formal discovery (it is called a "transparent" process), so the expense of gathering necessary information is greatly reduced.
  • Because the parties work to agree on any professionals needed for certain issues, such as appraisers, it avoids each side hiring his or her own "hired gun" and paying for two professionals to compete on issues.
  • All personal and financial issues are kept confidential and are not aired in public in court.
  • Instead of a "War of the Roses" type of divorce, the parties do not end up hating each other.
  • The parties can learn how to communicate effectively with one another on issues that may arise even after the suit is over.

Collaborative law seems to be the way of the future in family law cases. It is worth discussing this type of process with your family law attorney to see if it is right for you and your family law dispute.

Because collaborative law is a very different way of resolving family law disputes than ordinary litigation, it is critical that the attorneys representing both parties be trained in collaborative law. In the Underwood Law Firm, both Sally Emerson and Chris Wrampelmeier are trained and experienced in collaborative law. Both attorneys belong to the Panhandle Collaborative Law Professionals, an organization of collaborative law attorneys and allied professionals in the Texas Panhandle, and are also members of the Collaborative Law Institute of Texas.

This column is published for informational purposes only. It should not be construed as legal advice and is not intended to create an attorney client relationship. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the author's law firm or its individual partners.