About Collaborative Law

What is collaborative law?  That’s an excellent question!  Collaborative law is not merely playing nice and trying to get along.  Collaborative law is a legal process that is structured, focused, and offered to legal clients as an alternative to going to court to settle disputes.  The collaborative law process can be used by couples for collaborative divorces or custody disputes or other family law matters.  However, the collaborative law process is not limited to just family law matters.  It can be used by families for resolving wills disputes.  And it can be used by businesses, from individually owned business to Fortune 500 companies to resolve conflicts in a way that preserves working relationships and doesn’t result in years of contentious court battles.

The collaborative law process is voluntary – your judge will never order you to participate in it.  But the savvy client will recognize that the collaborative law process is the best opportunity to receive what is most important to them, often at a lower cost, and preserve working relationships moving into the future.

The collaborative law process is best described as a series of carefully planned meetings in order to methodically consider the desires of each party, evaluate the important facts, and come to agreement about moving forward.  Each party is represented by their own attorney.  Other commonly included team members are financial neutral professionals, mediators, family specialists, and communication facilitators, frequently called mental health professionals.  Each of these highly skilled professionals are neutral (except for the attorneys) and assist both sides in evaluating options and achieving agreement.

The collaborative law process is governed by the Texas Family Collaborative Law Act in a divorce or custody setting, or by contract in the civil setting. The parties sign a participation agreement, in which each party commits to negotiate in good faith, and to voluntarily disclose any reasonable and pertinent information.  The attorneys are dedicated settlement lawyers.  If either party decides to leave the collaborative law process to go to court, both sides must get new lawyers and start over.  This combination of benefits and costs is one of the many reasons that the collaborative law process works.  Thousands of satisfied clients in Texas, and around the world, can testify to its power.

Curious?  Check out the resources on this website.  For information and a list of professionals regarding collaborative divorce and other family law matters, visit CollaborativeDivorceTexas.com.  For information and a list of professionals regarding civil disputes, visit GlobalCollaborativeLawCouncil.com.