Collaborative Divorce
Collaborative Divorce is an innovative holistic approach to dealing with the inevitable financial and emotional difficulties that arise during divorce. The concept was born in the late ‘80s and has spread in acceptance and popularity across the country. Collaborative Divorce was added to the Arizona Rules of Family Law Procedure in 2015. Collaborative Divorce is considered one of the Alternative Dispute Resolution options, as is mediation. However, this is very different from mediation.
Collaborative Divorce involves the expertise of financial, emotional and child related experts to help couples reach amicable agreements faster, less expensively and with limited aftermath. Andi Lawrence is a collaboratively trained attorney available to assist her clients with Collaborative Divorce.
Mediation
How Mediation Can Help Couples Work Through Divorce
Going through a divorce can be one of the most stressful times of your life. Your marriage might be over, but you can still have a positive relationship with the person you thought would be your partner for life. Learn some of the ways that choosing mediation for your divorce can benefit everyone involved.
Mediation is Better for Your Long-Term Relationship
Many divorcing couples have children, and whether your children are young, or adults themselves, the reality is that your ex-spouse will be in your life for many years to come. Working together to have an amicable divorce will benefit both of you, and your children and grandchildren. Even if you do not have children, the ability to reach amicable resolution in divorce will be better for your own state of mind.
Divorce usually comes when no other alternative is available. If you can both get through this incredibly difficult time with compromise and collaboration through mediation, you have a better chance of a positive relationship when your divorce is final.
A Mediated Settlement Can Be More Empowering
Mediation allows both parties to state their concerns with a professional, compassionate mediator and identify what matters most to you. Being able to discuss your feelings and requests about how the dissolution of your marriage will go allows you to feel more empowered than in a divorce where litigation is involved. In litigation, there will be a ‘winner’ and a ‘loser’. In mediation, you can work together with your spouse to find compromise.
Knowing that it is possible for you to work out your differences with the person you had hoped to spend your life with will likely help you feel more optimistic and stable than may be the case in a litigated divorce. Mediation also allows you the opportunity to be creative in resolving your issues in ways judges might not be able.
Mediation Can Help Your Children Adjust Better
Divorce affects kids no matter how hard the parents try to protect them from fallout. Mediation provides a safe space for you and your spouse to focus on the best interests of the children that you both love so much.
When your children see that you and your spouse are working together and still care about one another, they will not feel a need to pick sides or place blame. When children see their parents acting respectfully and peacefully, it also reduces a child’s concern that they are somehow to blame for the divorce.
A Mediated Divorce May Result in Less Cost to Both of You
Divorce can be costly, which contributes to the stress and anxiety of the process. A divorce that focuses on settlement and mediation is often less expensive, in part, because there are not numerous court filings, evidentiary hearings, or unpredictable court rulings.
Mediation Moves More Quickly
The mediation process allows you to move through the complexities of your divorce more quickly and with less conflict. It can be a way to help you preserve the good memories, create new and more effective ways to communicate, and move past the negative aspects of why your marriage didn't work.
Mediation may involve a single day of mediation, or a series of sessions. The goal is to resolve your divorce in a way that allows both parties to put the past behind them and move forward.
Collaborative Divorce & Mediation
Our team at Lawrence & Jecmen PLLC is here to help you and your spouse work through this difficult time. Divorce can have a positive outcome with collaboration and mediation. Our attorneys are specialists in settlement and mediation as well as the collaborative divorce process. We’re here to act as mediators for you and your spouse or represent you in mediation. Call us today for an appointment.