Catalyst Family Lawyers | Terrigal | Family Law Central Coast | New South Wales | Separation & Divorce | Children: Parenting & Living Arrangements | Division of property, Finances & Debt | Prenuptial Agreements | De Facto Arrangements | Collaborative Law | Mediation | Constructive Negotiation

Collaborative Law is a process that helps separating and divorcing couples resolve their differences in a humane, dignified and respectful way in private without going to court. Key features of Collaborative Law include:

Representation:

Each person is represented by a collaborative lawyer whose role is to advise and guide the client through the process and whose loyalty remains with the client.

Needs Based Focus:

The participants, with the assistance of their lawyers, work together to tailor the process to address their specific needs and issues and those of their family.
The participants take control of the process to find solutions which suit them and their families.
Negotiations are undertaken from an interest-based perspective seeking “win-win” results which are mutually beneficial and that take into account the highest priorities of each person and his or her family.
Other professionals including accountants, financial advisors, counsellors, children’s experts etc. can be brought into the process to provide specific advice where the circumstances require it.

Transparency and Privacy:

The participants agree to work openly and honestly and allow a free exchange of information.
A framework for effectively communicating the participants’ concerns and goals is created.
Negotiations are conducted through confidential face-to-face meetings including the participants and their lawyers in a private setting.
Solicitors’ letters and correspondence is kept to a minimum, as all negotiations take place during the confidential meetings.
Because negotiations take place face-to-face, misunderstandings and miscommunications are reduced and issues tend to be resolved more quickly.

Certainty, Legally Binding, Future Focused Results:

The participants and their lawyers work towards a future-focused, holistic settlement by working to resolve all of their disputes and issues, not just those of a legal nature.
At the end of the process, the agreement reached is formulated into a legally- recognised and legally-binding document such as Consent Orders or a Binding Financial Agreement.
Participants focus on developing and maintaining the civil relationships necessary to co-parent children into the future.

You and your former spouse each instruct a specialist Collaborative Family Lawyer:

www.collabprofessionalsnsw.org.au provides contact details of Collaborative Family Lawyers in New South Wales. As the number of Collaborative Lawyers is ever growing, please contact us and we can provide you or your former spouse with the contact details of other Collaborative Lawyers who may not be listed on this website.

You and your former spouse along with your lawyers agree to work together as a team and to resolve issues without going to Court:

All participants including their lawyers must sign a Collaborative Law Participation Agreement in which everyone agrees not to go to court. If there is a total impasse and the Collaborative Process fails, both lawyers must cease to act for their clients. Both participants must then retain new lawyers to represent them in Court. With the threat of proceeding to Court removed, the participants and their lawyers focus on resolution as opposed to strategy planning.

The couple and their lawyers meet together for private face-to-face discussions referred to as four-way meetings. Four-way meetings often take place away from the lawyers’ offices so that the atmosphere is less formal and more relaxed. During each meeting, as is the case in a business meeting, minutes are kept, an agenda is set, future steps are mapped out and any “homework” for the participants (for example, gathering documents for the next meeting) is arranged. The timeframe for future meetings is decided by the participants so that the meetings are spaced and set at a pace that they are comfortable with.

Because the four-way meetings are transparent and there is expected to be an honest and open free-flow of information, most of the “work”, including the lawyers providing their clients with legal advice, takes place during the four-way meetings. The clients are in control of the process and do most of the talking. Their lawyers are there to provide support, legal advice and guidance. The lawyers are also there to keep the process “on track” and the participants focused on conducting interest-based negotiations based on needs, not rights, and to work towards a “win-win” solution that is acceptable to all.

To help their clients achieve the best financial and parenting outcome possible for their circumstances, the Collaborative Law process enables other experts such as accountants, financial advisers, children’s experts and counsellors to, when needed, be brought into the four-way meetings to provide specific advice and facilitate a more appropriate outcome than might otherwise be possible using more traditional dispute- resolution processes.

Once an agreement has been reached which satisfies the needs of both participants and their families, the lawyers work together to draft the agreement into a legally- binding document such as Consent Orders or a Binding Financial Agreement.

Collaborative Law involves the participants’ working together with the assistance of their lawyers to resolve their dispute. The participants “drive” the negotiations and their lawyers are there to provide advice and support.

During mediation, the two participants (and usually their lawyers) meet with an independent, neutral mediator. The mediator’s role is to facilitate discussion.

Not all of the discussion will take place with all of the participants and their lawyers being present. Usually, the mediator will also spend some time with each participant and his or her lawyer individually. The lawyers may also meet and negotiate on behalf of their clients in their clients’ absence.

Whilst mediation is far better than going to Court, it does not offer the openness and cooperation that is able to be achieved through the Collaborative Law process because the participants and their lawyers still largely remain opponents guarding and negotiating from their “rights-based” position.

What if my former spouse doesn’t want to participate in a Collaborative Law settlement?

While we believe that Collaborative Law offers separating and divorcing couples the best opportunity to resolve their differences on their terms in a cost-effective way, Collaborative Law requires both spouses to commit to the process 100 per cent and for both of them to retain lawyers trained in, and committed to, the Collaborative Law process.

It is important to recognise that Collaborative Law is not appropriate for every matter. Other dispute-resolution practices such as mediation or constructive negotiation may be suitable. Unfortunately, it is a reality that some matters do require a Court’s determination.

The roll of the Collaborative Lawyers is to keep the participants “on track”. Stalemates do occur but they can usually be resolved with the help of the participants’ lawyers. Collaborative Lawyers are trained to deal with impasses. Other experts and mediators can also be brought into the process to assist if necessary.

In a Collaborative Law process the participants and their lawyers sign a Participation Agreement which prevents their lawyers from acting for them if they take their dispute to Court. Removing the threat of going to Court opens up the negotiation process. The lawyers are bound to assist their clients to reach a peaceful, satisfactory outcome without involving the Court.

For this reason, if the participants are unable to resolve their differences and one quits the process, each person would need to start again and engage a new lawyers to take their dispute to Court.

Generally, yes. That being said, each matter is different and brings with it, its own unique challenges.

Because the participants are in control of the process, together they decide the issues to be addressed and how that is to occur. Usually settlement is achieved far more quickly than would be the case if the participants took their dispute to Court.

Legal fees incurred during the Collaborative Law process represent productive time spent by the lawyers. Because their lawyers don’t go to Court, the participants don’t waste money paying for their lawyers to be at Court all day only for their matter not to be reached.