Understanding the Collaborative Divorce Process in Texas
Your marriage may be over, but you may have many reasons to try to resolve your differences amicably. A cooperative effort can save both of you a lot of money. If you have minor children, you can minimize the trauma they experience by working together to move forward, and your children can avoid having to take sides. In recent years, the state of Texas has begun to sanction an alternative to divorce litigation known as collaborative divorce. The collaborative divorce process can help you minimize the financial impact of divorce while retaining significant control over the outcome of the process. Here’s how it works.
An Overview of the Collaborative Divorce Process
The collaborative divorce process places primary focus on the whole family, in particular the transitions that all members of the family will have to make. In a collaborative divorce, each spouse retains separate legal counsel, but the attorneys are charged to work with each other and with the parties to find ways to resolve divorce matters without the intervention of the courts. The parties and their lawyers seek to find mutually beneficial ways to settle child custody and visitation matters, alimony or spousal support issues, child support and the division of marital property.
To facilitate the most effective solutions, parties in a collaborative divorce process typically engage other professionals to provide authoritative guidance. For example, the parents may retain a child psychologist to make an assessment of the relationships of all parties and recommend a custody/visitation arrangement that is in the child’s best interests while addressing the needs of parents. The spouses may also hire financial experts to determine how best to divide marital assets and ensure the well-being of all parties.
To ensure the integrity of the process, and to prevent any conflict of interest, if the parties are unsuccessful in resolving all matters without the intervention of the court, and need a judge to make a ruling on any matter, the collaborative attorney must withdraw from the case, and the parties must retain new counsel.
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For experienced counsel in family law matters, including the termination of parental rights, contact us online or call our office at (972) 445-1500 or (817) 288-4168 if you’re in the Dallas / Fort Worth Area. Call us toll free at 1 (877) 613-5800. Your first consultation is without cost or obligation.
