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Collaborative Cases Pending before the Court ? say What ??
Collaborative Law Section
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counsel ) is that they must sign a participation agreement . See Fla . Stat . 61.57 ( 1 ).
So as practitioners what do we do if we are in a filed pending case that gets pulled back from litigation into the collaborative process ? Dismissal ? No . There is a better option that spares the parties the cost of re-filing and also insulates the professionals from being in contested proceedings before the court . That option is to utilize the procedure of 13th Circuit Administrative Order S-2012-041 ( the Admin Order ).
The Admin Order was entered on July 31 , 2012 , prior to the enactment of the Collaborative Law Process Act , Fla . Stat . § 61.55 – 61.58 . It expressly contemplates that parties may elect to use the collaborative process both pre-suit as well as after the commencement of a family law proceeding . In the context of a pending case , the parties are directed to file with the court a copy of the Participation Agreement . See Admin Order at
¶ 4 . B . The parties are further directed to notify the presiding judge in their matter that the case is now occurring through the collaborative process . Id .
Upon the tender of the notice to the judge that the participation agreement was filed and that the matter is being handled in the collaborative process , the case is automatically abated . Admin Order at ¶ 4 . b . The court is then required to enter an Order scheduling a First Collaborative Status Conference to occur within the next six months . Admin Order at ¶ 5 . That status conference may be followed by further status conferences in the discretion of the judge . Admin Order at ¶ 4 . B .
While the case is abated , the court has the authority to approve written temporary agreements between the parties . Admin Order at ¶ 7 . Through mutual agreement in the collaborative process , the parties can even issue subpoenas in the court proceeding to obtain records that they may not be able to obtain directly from non-parties . Admin Order at ¶ 6 .
These limited joint uses of the court to further agreements reached in the collaborative process are consistent with § III . 3.13 of the IACP Ethical Standards and Guidelines .
So take a good look at your pending cases . The fact that a contested case was filed , by itself , does not mean that the opportunity to pursue a resolution through the collaborative process has been lost . Not every collaborative case begins pre-suit . Your next collaborative case could be the litigated case you are currently handling . It may just be that you and the other attorney need to utilize the procedures of the Admin Order to help the parties find a less adversarial and less destructive resolution to their domestic issues . n
Author : Matthew E . Thatcher , B . C . S . – Solomon Law Group , P . A .
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