Ending
bloodshed in court
An overhaul of how
divorce cases are dealt
with is being called for by
High Court Judge Sir Paul
Coleridge. He is urging
for more focus to be on
innovative alternatives to
the “bloodshed, time and
costs of court”.
Collaborative Law can help. It can make
a real difference and gives couples who
are separating an opportunity to work
together with the support and guidance
of their own lawyer.
Under the Collaborative Law process
each person appoints their own
collaboratively trained lawyer and they
then all meet together to work things
out face to face. Each person has their
lawyer by their side throughout and has
support and legal advice as the matter
progresses.
Each person and their respective
lawyers sign an agreement beforehand
that commits them all to trying to resolve
the issues without going to court. The
agreement prevents the lawyers from
representing the clients in court if the
collaborative process breaks down. If
that happens the clients have to instruct
new lawyers. The idea being that
everyone is fully committed to finding the
best solutions by agreement, rather than
through adversarial court proceedings.
The process can enable the separating
couples to reach agreement on how
the finances will be shared or what
arrangements need to be made
for any children for example. The
meetings are designed to be led
by the separating couple and the
lawyers are discouraged from being
“positional” and instead have to focus
on the separating couples’ needs and
interests to help them find a solution
tailor made to the separating couples’
circumstances.
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The collaborative process is not driven
by a timetable imposed by the court
so the process can be built around
individual circumstances and priorities.
Sometimes only a couple of meetings
are needed to conclude matters, in other
cases four or five. Once an agreement
is reached, the lawyers will put it into
effect, and make it legally binding when
necessary.
After finding myself becoming more
frequently frustrated at how an
adversarial and litigious approach
to dealing with separation was not
always suitable for all families I trained
to be a Collaborative Lawyer and I’m
pleased to be able to offer people who
are separating from their partner an
alternative way of moving forward with
their life. Each family is unique and
it is important that couples who are
separating have numerous options
available to them to deal with the legal
consequences of their separation
so their, and if they are parents,
their children’s needs, can be met.
By Gemma Hope
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