Family Diplomacy recently received a client testimonial on a case in which the parties used the collaborative divorce process. FLORIDA BAR DISCLAIMER: Please note that every case is different, and you may not receive the same or similar results.
You can find the client testimonial, originally entered on Avvo.com, below the jump.
Collaborative divorce starts out with a pledge by both spouses: We will not fight one another in court. Each spouse hires his and her own attorney, and the two attorneys and two clients sign a participation agreement formalizing the pledge not to fight one another. The attorneys are then barred from filing any contested legal pleadings or appearing in any contested hearings on behalf of the clients.
In the most common collaborative divorce model that we use in Tampa Bay, a neutral facilitator, who generally has a mental health background, is retained to help the clients focus on the future and the issues (such as parenting) that are most important to them rather than the arguments of the past. Additionally, a financial professional is retained to cost-effectively ensure that each has retained sufficient financial disclosure (i.e., trust but verify) and to help them development financial options that are tailored to their family.
Cypress collaborative, a group of experienced collaborative professionals in Washington State, have put together a fantastic video that further explains the collaborative process. You can see the video after the jump.
Despite Kentucky Clerk of the Court Kim Davis’ argument that issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples violates her constitutional rights, a federal judge has ruled that the clerk must obey the law, do her job, and issue the marriage licenses.
In his order, the federal judge wrote, “It does not seem unreasonable for Plaintiffs, as Rowan County voters, to expect their elected official to perform her statutorily assigned duties. And yet, that is precisely what Davis is refusing to do.”
A video from USA Today on the news can be found after the jump.
A fact of Florida family law is that if children are involved, there almost certainly will be child support. Even in cases where parents have a 50/50 time-sharing schedule, child support is oftentimes warranted.
Florida Statutes section 61.30 sets out a formula to calculate child support that takes into account the incomes of each party, the amount of time the child spends with each parent, health insurance costs, and other costs.
And Family Law Software as created an iPhone and Android App which can give you an idea of how much child support you should expect to pay or receive.
The Lawyer Magazine has published an article co-authored by collaborative attorneys Adam B. Cordover and Jeremy Gluckman on “A Simplifed Protocol for Collaborative Dissolution.” The article is on page 22 of the Summer 2015 edition of the Lawyer Magazine, which is published and distributed by the Hillsborough County Bar Association.
The article is reproduced below:
One objection that most professionals have heard regarding the collaborative process is that it is too expensive and complicated. Though there are many arguments against this objection, in some cases it is valid. If there are relatively few assets and debts and clients are in general agreement regarding their children, a simplified process may be in order.
What follows is a step-by-step guide to simplify the use of a full team in a collaborative dissolution. This process has been successfully tested in Tampa. It requires more preparation from the professionals and clients than other versions of the full team model; however, it can promote two important goals: (i) speed up the process and (ii) reduce costs to the clients.
Below are simplified protocols for our full team model:
(1) A party meets with a collaboratively trained lawyer where the pros and cons of all processes, including litigation, mediation, and collaborative divorce, are explained.
(2) The attorney provides the party with names of at least three other collaboratively trained lawyers (and perhaps access to membership lists of local collaborative practice groups), who then provides those names to his/her spouse along with materials about the collaborative process. Read more →
Recently, Linda Solomon, a Licensed Professional Counselor, appeared on the Divorce Without Destruction podcast to talk about the unique introductory collaborative training that she and the Lone Star Trainers are putting together for both civil law and family law professionals. The training will take place September 11-12, 2015, at the beautiful St. Petersburg Yacht club in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Attorneys, mental health professionals, financial professionals, and mediators can learn more and sign up here.
For those who don’t know, Linda Solomon is one of the founders of the Neutral Facilitator model of collaborative practice that is most commonly used here in Florida.
You can listen to the podcast after the jump.
Bubba the Love Sponge is a nationally syndicated radio show host based out of Tampa Bay. He was born Todd Clem, but in the 1990’s he legally changed his name. The following is from Bubba987.com: 
In 1999 Clem legally changed his name to the trademarked Bubba the Love Sponge®, a nickname given to him by a former fellow DJ which appears as such on his passport and driver’s license. BTLS’ name recognition and popularity grew as the Bubba the Love Sponge® Show became syndicated throughout the US, and he became a top-rated media figure operating out of the Tampa Bay area.
You don’t have to be a celebrity to change your legal name.
I am president of Next Generation Divorce, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and Florida’s largest collaborative practice group. Next Generation Divorce is composed of over 130 members who are attorneys, mental health professionals, and financial professionals dedicated to helping families resolve divorce and family law issues privately and respectfully, through the collaborative process. Next Generation Divorce’s practitioners cover the Greater Tampa Bay area, with offices in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Sarasota, and Manatee Counties.
Members of Next Generation Divorce are also required to register with an umbrella organization, the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (“IACP”). The IACP has over 5,000 members of various disciplines working in at least 27 different countries. And, every year, the IACP puts together a massive conference, the Forum, which helps collaborative professionals refine their skills and learn advance topics in collaborative practice.
Though Donald Trump is getting all of the press these days, it was not too long ago that another divorced billionaire was in the headlines. T. Boone Pickens, the oil magnate and proponent of windfarms and use of natural gas vehicles, also happens to have used the collaborative divorce process to separate from his former spouse. And, according to Pickens, collaborative divorce saved him millions.
From the Dallas Business Journal:
Billionaire T. Boone Pickens is clearly a man who knows a good deal when he sees one.
That’s why he used a collaborative divorce approach in his recent parting of ways from his fourth wife, Madeleine.
Pickens told a room full of lawyers about his experience Friday during a lunchtime panel in Dallas.
The State Bar of Texas didn’t let me into the room for his talk, saying it was a paid, private event, but I was able to grab a couple of comments from Pickens on the way out of the Hotel Palomar.
The collaborative approach saves both money and emotional wear and tear on families, the energy tycoon told me.
“Collaborative law keeps everything on a high level, and everybody cooperating,” Pickens said.
I asked him how much the collaborative approach saved him? Read more →
Tampa, Florida, August 7, 2015: When a person steps into a courthouse to file for divorce, he or she is entering an adversarial system pitting spouse versus spouse. Tampa attorney Adam B. Cordover has seen families publicly tear themselves apart in the court system, and he has decided to do something about it. Cordover will now practice exclusively in out-of-court dispute resolution, with a focus on collaborative divorce, mediation, direct negotiations, and unbundled legal services.
And on July 31, 2015, the fifth anniversary of the establishment of The Law Firm of Adam B. Cordover, P.A., Cordover has changed his firm’s name to reflect this new focus. His firm is now “Family Diplomacy: A Collaborative Law Firm.”
“We have wonderful and caring judges, but they are limited in a system that turns parents into ‘opposing parties’ and attorneys into opposition research experts,” says Cordover, who will no longer appear in contested court hearings. “There are better, private methods, such as collaborative divorce, to help families resolve their differences and still maintain a relationship and their dignity once the divorce is finalized.”
