Houston Collaborative Divorce Lawyers
Providing Personalized Family Law Representation
Are you looking for a better way to resolve the differences you will encounter in your Houston divorce? We all know how stressful and divisive the divorce process can be. Resolving your differences as to how the separation of your lives, finances, and children will be accomplished can be difficult, emotionally-challenging, and fraught with tension.
You have many routes for the resolution of your divorce from an uncontested divorce resolved privately between you and your spouse to a more formal negotiation, mediation, or litigation. You also have the choice of collaborative divorce, an option that is a gentler, more positive approach that affords many other benefits. This approach may be especially attractive to families with children in light of the growing evidence of how harmful divorce can be for children.
Want to learn more about a Texas collaborative divorce? Contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC at (281) 810-9760 or through our online request form to arrange for a consultation about your case.
What Is Collaborative Divorce?
In collaborative divorce, you and your spouse will each have an attorney who is trained in the collaborative process. This attorney will provide you with private legal counsel as well as be involved in four-way sessions with you, your spouse, and your spouse’s attorney. The process that is engaged in is called interest-based negotiation, which involves reaching a mutually-acceptable agreement on all of the issues that need to be resolved. The outcome strives for one that mutually benefits both sides and, should problems arise, all parties focus intensively on resolving the problem as opposed to fighting for the upper hand against their “opponent.” This differs significantly from the adversarial warfare that often goes on in court.
To get started, you and your spouse will enter into what is known as a Participation Agreement which delineates the rules and process of what will follow. Part of this Agreement is the fact that both parties will be required to fully disclose all information pertinent to the divorce, such as financial information about property and debts. You may also add in the services of other professionals to give you proper advice and understanding, such as financial planners or child psychologists. Once you have agreed upon these details, the process will ensue with scheduled joint meetings where you will be able to hammer out the issues of child custody and visitation, spousal and child support, the division of marital property and debt, and any other issue that needs to be resolved to reach a final divorce agreement.
Benefits of Collaborative Divorce
The benefits of the collaborative divorce are many, including:
It is private and confidential because it takes place outside of the courtroom in a neutral and safe space.
- It avoids further destruction of your relationship with your spouse because
- it does not focus on personality or fault but on how to solve the problem
- of the divorce issues themselves.
- It can demonstrate to both sides that they can work together for the benefit of their children, making the post-divorce co-parenting relationship better.
- It takes place on your time schedule as opposed to the schedule of the court; thus it is usually faster.
- It is cost-conscious because it does not depend on litigation that can go on for months or, in the worst cases, for years.
- It allows you and your spouse to maintain control over decisions as opposed to having these very personal matters decided for you by a judge who knows very little about you and your family.
- It is a process that is customized to your marriage and family and can involve creative ways to resolve challenging issues.
Once you and your spouse have resolved all of your issues, your divorce agreement can be formally written up and submitted to the court for approval.
Ready to Get Started? Talk to a Houston Collaborative Divorce Attorney.
If you are ready to learn more about the process and how the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC can help you with your divorce, we urge you to call us. The hallmark of our firm is to provide an outstanding level of communication, trust, and efficiency to all of our clients.
