Cordover Selected to Serve on IACP Board of Directors

/in /by

Family Diplomacy managing attorney Adam B. Cordover has been selected to serve on the Board of Directors of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (“IACP”).  Adam will be part of the incoming 2018-2019 Board along with fellow new Board Members Rajan Chettiar of Singapore,  Brian Galbraith of Barrie, Ontario, Canada, and Kevin Scudder of Seattle, Washington.

The Board announcement was made in the June 2018 edition of IACP’s Collaborative Connection, along with announcement of IACP’s incoming officers.  The announcement is reproduced below:

Read more →

Mosten & Cordover ABA Book Available in August

/in /by

It is almost here!  Forrest “Woody” Mosten and Adam B. Cordover’s “Building A Successful Collaborative Family Law Practice,” a compendium of practical tools from experts in the field, will be published by the American Bar Association Family Law Section in August 2018.

Forrest S. Mosten & Adam B. Cordover

This has been a nearly 3-year project that was sparked when Adam attended a Tampa course taught by Woody in 2015 on “How to Build a Profitable and Satisfying Collaborative and Mediation Practice.”  Woody’s course provided Adam with the tools to create an exclusively private dispute resolution, non-litigation family law practice.  This allowed Adam not only to feel confident in offering clients a better way through divorce and other family law issues, but also gave him the ability to chart his own path without the high stress associated with family law court battles.

It is with that in mind that Woody and Adam have gathered experienced practitioners to provide practical tools on how professionals can make collaborative practice and peacemaking work their day job.

Below is the Table of Contents from the book:

Read more →

Video: Pauline Tesler on Collaborative Divorce and Hidden Assets

/in //Tags: , , , , , , , , , by

 

You may be considering using the collaborative process to divorce in a more private, amicable way, but you may wonder: “What if my spouse is hiding assets?  Can we use the collaborative process? Will it work if there are hidden assets?”

Pauline Tesler & Hidden AssetsIn the video below, California attorney Pauline Tesler, a founder of interdisciplinary collaborative practice and the first president of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals, addresses hidden assets:

Read more →

Why Trump and Kim Could Use a Mediator

/in //Tags: , , by

A mediator is not just for divorce.  In fact, there is an organization, Mediators Beyond Borders, which promotes the use of mediators in all sorts of international conflicts.  A representative of the organization has even spoken in front of the United Nations to encourage mediation.

Mediator

Regardless of your perspective on the recent summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jung Un, there is one thing that seems clear to me: they could use a mediator.

How Mediators Could Help in International Diplomacy

Here is how a mediator could help:

  • A mediator is a neutral third party who helps people resolve disputes.  Though the first meeting between the national leaders seems to have had a friendly tone, there is no doubt that things will get tough.  In divorce negotiations, discussions can start off easy, but many times they devolve.  A mediator can be there to keep discussions focused on the future rather than past actions and words that caused the dispute.  A good mediator could keep President Trump and Chairman Kim focused on the future. Read more →

How Do I Know If My Kids Are OK During My Divorce?

/in , , //Tags: , , by

Divorce is not only stressful and life changing for you, but also for your children. As a parent, you want your children to come out of your divorce as unscathed as possible. How do you ensure that happens?

You are likely more emotional and busier than ever during your divorce process.  However, now is the time to stay connected with your children. Spend special time with them doing activities that they enjoy. Check in with their teachers, coaches, and friends to make sure that they are doing okay.

Read more →

Next Generation Divorce

Sample Collaborative Participation Agreement

/in , //Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , by

Is divorce on your horizon?  If so, are you fearing entering a public adversarial system where husband is pitted against wife, and mother is pitted against father?  Fortunately, there are alternatives.  One alternative is the collaborative divorce process, where you and your spouse sign a participation agreement that states, among other things, that your attorneys can only be used to help you reach an agreement outside of court.  This means that none of you or your attorneys’ time, energy, or billable time goes towards opposition research, motion practice, or costly trial preparation.

The collaborative participation agreement spells out the rules of the collaborative process.  Below you will find a sample participation agreement that I oftentimes use in my cases here in Florida.  Please note that different professionals and different communities use different participation agreements.  Further, the same professional may have different participation agreements depending on the type of matter or the complexity of the matter.

As I have had the fortune to model my participation agreement based on the work of others, I welcome other professionals to modify and adapt the collaborative participation agreement below as their own:

Read more →

Statistics on Collaborative Divorce in Florida (1/31/2018 Update)

/in /by

In 2010, the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (IACP) released the results of a 4 year study on Collaborative Practice.  The results were based on information gathered from collaborative professionals who filled out a survey at the end of their case.  The IACP Research Committee collected 933 surveys from throughout the United States and Canada, 97% of which were for divorce cases.

Remarkably, the IACP found that 86% of collaborative cases ended in a full resolution of all issues, while an additional 2% ended in reconciliation between the clients.  Of those cases that terminated prior to a full agreement, 14% included a partial agreement between the clients, narrowing the issues that needed to be addressed.

In the aftermath of this research project, the IACP offered grants to local and statewide practice groups so that they could begin gathering data.  The Florida Academy of Collaborative Professionals (FACP), an organization of over 500 independent collaborative professionals throughout the state of Florida, applied for IACP’s Gay Cox grant (named after a pioneer of the Collaborative Law Movement and proponent of research on the topic, who passed in 2013).  The IACP approved the FACP’s grant request.

The results below are based on 101 responses, collected between December 16, 2013, and January 31, 2018.  The authors note that data collection is ongoing, and encourage all professionals to complete and submit one survey at the end of each collaborative case.  Surveys can be accessed and submitted via the member-only portal of the FACP website (http://collaborativepracticeflorida.com).  For questions on the survey or accessing the members-only portal, professionals are encouraged to contact the authors.

Read more →

Review: A Clear and Easy Guide to Collaborative Divorce

/in //Tags: , , , , , , by

There are a lot of great books out there on collaborative divorce.  Some, like Forrest S. Mosten’s Collaborative Divorce Handbook: Helping Families without Going to Court and Pauline Tesler’s Collaborative Law: Achieving Effective Resolution in Divorce without Litigation, are geared towards divorce professionals.  Others, like Stu Webb and Ron Ousky’s The Collaborative Way to Divorce: The Revolutionary Method That Results in Less Stress, Lower Costs, and Happier Kids – Without Going to Court and Joryn Jenkin’s War or Peace: Avoid the Destruction of Divorce, are geared towards families considering divorce.

A new offering is helpful for both professionals and families.  Enter Dr. Jeremy S. Gaies’ A Clear and Easy Guide to Collaborative Divorce.

Dr. Gaies is a psychologist and collaborative facilitator/coach in Tampa, Florida.  Full disclosure: He also teaches attorneys, mental health professionals, financial professionals, and mediators how to offer families collaborative services through the Tampa Bay Collaborative Trainers, a group in which I am also a trainer.

Read more →

The Truth: Alimony is Arbitrary

/in //Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , by

I recently came across an article on how alimony is awarded in different states.  The article, titled “A Survey of Lawyers’ Observations About the Principles Governing the Award of Spousal Support Throughout the United States,” was written by J. Thomas Oldham of the University of Houston Law Center.  Here is the abstract:

Abstract

At the beginning of this project, I distributed 5000 questionnaires to family lawyers around the country. I asked the lawyers to respond by estimating the spousal support award, if any, that would result for six hypothetical divorcing couples in their jurisdiction. While the response rate was not great, the responses received suggest that there are three different types of spousal support systems in the U. S. today. In some states, spousal support is rarely awarded, and then only to prevent severe hardship. In others, spousal support is frequently awarded when the spouses’ incomes are substantially different at divorce. In most states, however, it appears that there is no clear spousal support policy, and the award, if any, in any given case is the result of which judge is assigned to hear the matter. In these states, spousal support determinations appear to be arbitrary. I have included as an appendix to my article a summary of the responses.

Some states have responded to this lack of clarity regarding spousal support standards by adopting guidelines. These guidelines attempt to provide more uniformity in terms of award amounts and award duration. To date, they have not attempted to provide guidance regarding when a spousal support award is warranted. In this article, I discuss how spousal support standards could be clarified in those states where there appears to be no clearly accepted policy.

I would say that Florida falls into the last category:  there are no alimony guidelines, and the amount you might receive or pay is highly dependent on the whims of the judge you are in front of.

That is, if you let the judge decide the amount of alimony.

You Can Be Your Own Judge

More and more families are coming to realize that going through a court battle is, in most cases, the worst possible way to divorce.  If you choose a private form of dispute resolution, such as the Collaborative Process, you and your spouse will have the final say on the amount of any alimony.

In the Collaborative Process, you and your spouse each have separate attorneys to guide you.  However, the attorneys are not there for opposition research or to prepare for trial; rather, they are there solely for the purpose of helping you reach an out-of-court agreement.  This means that no time, energy, or money is spent fighting in court.

Oftentimes, a neutral financial professional will help you and your spouse develop and analyze financial options that work best for your family.  The financial neutral can do a lifestyle analysis to determine what has been spent in the past and where there might be efficiencies that can be created in a spouse’s cash flow.   The financial professional will oftentimes also look into whether there are tax loopholes that might allow the family to enlarge their proverbial pie.

So do your family and your future a favor and consider the Collaborative Family Law Process.

Speak with a Collaborative Attorney

Adam B. Cordover is co-author of an upcoming American Bar Association book on Collaborative Divorce.  Further, Adam trains attorneys, mental health professional, financial professionals, and mediators in the Collaborative Process throughout Florida and the U.S.

Video: Betty Discusses Her Collaborative Divorce

/in //Tags: , , , , , , , , , by

Choosing how you go through divorce can be a harrowing experience.  Sometimes it is helpful to hear how others have chosen to divorce.  In the video below, from the Tampa Bay Academy of Collaborative Professionals, Betty discusses her collaborative divorce:

Read more →