Upcoming Books Help Lawyers Avoid Divorce Wars

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Tampa Bay divorce attorney Adam B. Cordover was recently cited in a news article from University of California – Los Angeles’ School of Law.  The article discusses books that teach lawyers to help families resolve divorce and other disputes privately and peacefully.  You can find the article below:

Three new books by UCLA School of Law faculty shine a light on non-traditional forms of practice in order to create greater access to legal services and to help lawyers master alternatives to litigation.

Forrest Mosten2015 Cordover Picture Square E1465051429156 - Family Diplomacy | A Collaborative Law Firm

Adjunct Professor Forrest Mosten ’72, a member of the UCLA Law faculty since 2002, and Lecturer Elizabeth Scully are co-authors of The Complete Guide to Mediation and The Family Lawyer’s Guide to Unbundled Legal Services. Mosten also is co-author, with Florida practitioner Adam Cordover, of a third book, Building A Successful Collaborative Practice, to which Scully is contributing a chapter. All three books are published by the American Bar Association. The Complete Guide to Mediation came out in 2015; the other two are slated for publication in 2017.

“We believe that lawyers should be more than gladiators,” said Mosten. “They can be healers and teachers, and their offices can be classrooms of client education. That’s a theme that runs through all of these books and my UCLA courses.”

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Bird Custody: What Happens To Our Pet In Divorce?

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When a couple has children, and they are getting divorced, they set up a child custody schedule to determine where their children will sleep at night.  But what happens when spouses have a bird?  Will a Tampa Bay divorce judge set up a “bird custody” schedule?

Bird Custody

Bird Custody

No, a judge will not create a bird custody schedule, but a couple can agree to such a schedule through a private form of dispute resolution such as collaborative divorce.

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Financial Advisers Learn About Collaborative Divorce

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Financial advisers are tasked with protecting their clients’ wealth.  And financial advisers want to help clients going through divorce make smart decisions and preserve their assets.  On December 8, 2016, the professionals and staff of the Sabal Trust Company in St. Petersburg, Florida, learned how collaborative divorce can safeguard their clients’ wealth, time, and privacy.

Discussing Collaborative Divorce

Sarah Hoerber, Tanya O’Connor, and Adam B. Cordover at Sabal Trust Company

Sabal Trust is the largest employee-owned trust company in Florida, and its Principals and staff are invested in creating a strategic approach to its clients financial security and growth. That is why they invited Family Diplomacy managing attorney Adam B. Cordover along with forensic accountant Sarah Hoerber and Brandon attorney Tanya O’Connor to discuss collaborative divorce.

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Florida State University Business Law Student Interviews a Collaborative Lawyer

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Anthony Mazzola

BUL 3310 – 0002

November 23rd, 2016

For this assignment, I had the pleasure of interviewing Adam Cordover. Mr. Cordover practices in Family Law and works for a company named Family Diplomacy: A Collaborative Law Firm. During the interview, I received a lot of great insight on a new field of law that I have never heard of before, and overall had a great, memorable experience. I mostly used the sample interview questions for this assignment, but I also added a few of my own as I listened to his responses.

-Why did you become an attorney?

“I became an attorney because I like to figure things out. I was always good with puzzles and it seemed like the law was encoded and used all of these complicated terms. I wanted to get to know what all these terms meant and how to decode these terms. Going through law school and becoming a lawyer has helped me out on that.” This response was really interesting to me because most of the time the answer to this question is to help better society or help people out, which is also true for Mr. Cordover as mentioned later, but the idea of law being like a complicated puzzle was a very interesting point to me.

-What type of law do you practice?

“I practice collaborative family law. What that means is that I help families who are going through divorce and other family law matters outside of court. I am not a divorce trial attorney. I practice exclusively out of court dispute resolution.“

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Need To Reduce Your Cell Phone Bill? Consider Consumer Cellular

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Spouses going through divorce usually come to a realization pretty quickly:  two spouses living in two homes costs more than two spouses living in one home.  And with this realization comes a reality check:  it is time to reduce living expenses.

Motorola Moto G Is Added To The Consumer Cellular Line Up - Family Diplomacy | A Collaborative Law Firm

One way to reduce living expenses is to reduce your cell phone bill.  And, based on personal experience, I recommend reducing your cell phone bill by switching to Consumer Cellular.

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Video: Divorce Lawyer Discusses His Divorce

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If you are separating from your spouse and you are grieving, you are not alone.

In the video below, Canadian divorce lawyer Brian Galbraith discusses the pain he went through during his own divorce.

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Last Day for Ft. Lauderdale Basic Collaborative Training Early Bird

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November 30 is the last day to receive the early bird rate ($275) for a two-day introductory collaborative training around Ft. Lauderdale on January 6-7.  A third day of advanced training on January 8 is included in the early bird rate!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Who: This training is for attorneys, mental health professionals, financial professionals, and mediators

Collaborative Training Logos 1 - Family Diplomacy | A Collaborative Law Firm

What: A two-day introductory/refresher collaborative training that will provide skills and materials on collaborative practice, and an advanced 1-day training focused on, among other things, working with high conflict clients, screening for domestic violence and other mental health concerns, and professional self-care.  The two-day training meets the IACP minimum standards for an interdisciplinary introductory training.

When:  Introductory/Refresher – January 6-7, 2017; Advanced – January 8, 2017

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

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Nonprofit in Florida Offers Grants for Adoption Costs

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The Tampa Bay Times recently ran a story about the Gift of Adoption Fund.  Gift of Adoption Fund is a 501(c)(3) organization with a chapter in Florida that helps prospective adoptive parents in need defray some of the costs of adoption.

Adoption Grants | Gift Of Adoption Fund

You can find portions of the Tampa Bay Times story below.

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Melendez on Collaborative Practice and Wellness

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George Melendez is a close friend and colleague of mine here in Tampa, Florida.  He is an attorney who, like me, has a firm belief that most families can resolve their disputes outside of court, and he is a strong proponent of collaborative family law.

Photo Melendez-5433

In a recent post, George laid out his philosophy on collaborative practice and wellness.  You can find a portion of the post below.

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Protecting Your Children from High Conflict Divorce

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Divorce court here in Florida is a terrible way to resolve disputes.  Divorce litigation is an adversarial proceeding where husband is pitted against wife, mother is pitted against father.

And it is the children who end up suffering the most.

But don’t take my word for it.  Tampa psychologist Stephanie Moulton Sarkis writes about the consequences of high conflict divorce on children:

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