Video: The Smart Divorce
Divorce consultant Deborah Moskovitch discusses her high-conflict divorce and the lessons she learned in the following video from Family Matters:
PRESS RELEASE: Tampa’s Chief Judge Signs Administrative Order on Collaborative Divorce
“They call it Collaborative Divorce. It’s apparently all the rage right now.” Jason Bateman’s character spoke these lines in the 2007 hit Juno, and now the practice has come to Tampa.
On July 31, 2012, Chief Judge Manuel Menendez, Jr., of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit of Florida signed an administrative order regulating collaborative family law practice in Hillsborough County. The administrative order is just the fourth such order in the State of Florida. The other circuits regulated by a collaborative family law administrative order are the Ninth Circuit (Orlando and Osceola Counties), the Eleventh Circuit (Miami-Dade County), and the Eighteenth Circuit (Brevard County).
According to Attorney Adam B. Cordover, “Hillsborough County’s collaborative law administrative order will bring more public awareness and certainty to this new and revolutionary form of family law practice.” Adam is a member of the task force that drafted and proposed the order and is also on the Executive Board of the Collaborative Divorce Institute of Tampa Bay, which promotes collaborative practice for divorce and all other types of family law matters.
Collaborative practice (which is variously referred to as collaborative divorce, collaborative law, collaborative model, or collaborative process) is a relatively new form of alternative dispute resolution which takes divorce and other family law cases out of the public courtroom and into a private office.
Each party hires a collaboratively trained attorney and agrees from the very beginning to resolve personal and financial disputes without having a judge decide the outcome.
A neutral facilitator (who is often a trained mediator, psychologist, or other licensed mental health professional) is brought on board to ensure that discussions focus on the future of the family unit rather than the arguments of the past. Additionally, the facilitator will ensure that discussions center around the interests of the parties (for example, “our child should go to a good school”) rather than on positions of the parties (for example, “our child must go to this particular school, or else…”).
A neutral accountant or other financial advisor may be brought on board when there are homes, businesses, mutual funds, or other assets that need to be divided. The financial advisor will also come up with creative solutions for debt division, child support, and ongoing needs of the spouses.
According to financial professional David Harper, CPA, ABV, PFS, CFF, CBA, “Studies show that financial disputes are consistently the number one reason for divorce. The collaborative divorce process promotes the honest exchange of all pertinent financial information so that each spouse has a comprehensive understanding of the financial aspects involved. Because of this, the collaborative process often results in a settlement involving less money, less time, and less of an emotional toll on the spouses and their children than the traditional litigation process.” Harper is an Executive Board member of the Collaborative Divorce Institute of Tampa Bay and devotes nearly his entire practice to providing sound financial advice to families in the midst of divorce.
Collaborative practice has been gaining steam as a more sensible approach to divorce, and even celebrities are catching on. Famous individuals who have utilized the collaborative process include Madonna, Robin Williams, and Cameron Crowe.
One of the lynchpins of collaborative practice is that, if the parties are unable to settle their differences and insist on going to court, their attorneys must withdraw, and new counsel may be retained. Attorney Beth Reineke believes “This means divorcing parties are more committed to the settlement process and less likely to choose litigation if the road gets bumpy during negotiations.” Reineke is a board certified emeritus family lawyer who has chosen not to litigate. As president of the Collaborative Divorce Institute of Tampa Bay, she either mediates with couples pre-suit or collaborates with the clients she represents.
More information on collaborative family law practice can be obtained from the Collaborative Divorce Institute’s website at http://www.CollaborativeDivorceTampaBay.com.
Chief Judge of Hillsborough County Endorses Collaborative Model in Administrative Order
Tampa’s Chief Judge Manuel Menendez has signed Administrative Order S-2012-041 endorsing the collaborative model of alternative dispute resolution for divorce and other family law cases in Hillsborough County. From the administrative order:
The Florida Supreme Court recognized that family cases needed “a system that provided nonadversarial alternatives and flexibility of alternatives; a system that preserved rather than destroyed family relationships;…and a system that facilitated the process chosen by the parties.” In re Report of the Family Law Steering Committee, 749 So. 2d 518, 523 (Fla. 2001).
The Florida Supreme Court’s acceptance of recommendations for a model family court is consistent with the principles of the collaborative practice model because the collaborative process empowers parties to make their own decisions guided and assisted by counsel in a setting outside of court. The Thirteenth Judicial Circuit supports the philosophy that the interdisciplinary collaborative model may be a suitable alternative to full scale adversarial litigation in family law cases if the parties agree to such a model.
Video: The Revolutionary Collaborative Family Law Process
Here in Tampa Bay, I have been promoting an alternative to courtroom divorce litigation known as collaborative divorce (also variously referred to as collaborative family law, collaborative practice, and collaborative process). The video below, from Family Matters with Justice Harvey Brownstone, contains a comprehensive discussion of the collaborative process:
In A Florida Child Custody Case, Does It Matter That I Am Gay?
I have been seeing more clients who are coming out of the closet either during or following their divorce (or during a child custody case not related to divorce). Each client has asked whether the Florida court is going to take into consideration his or her sexual orientation.
Though, in determining child custody matters, a Florida judge must take into consideration the “moral fitness” of the parents (see Florida Statutes Section 61.13(3)(f)), the court may not make a custody determination based solely on whether a parent is gay. In fact, a parent’s sexual orientation should not be a determining factor unless it has a direct negative impact on the welfare of the child.
Florida Adoptions and the Indian Child Welfare Act
When a potential client comes into my office seeking to learn more information about Florida adoption (whether it be stepparent adoption, close relative adoption, second parent adoption, or non-relative adoption), two questions almost always seem to catch the potential client off guard:
- Is the prospective adoptee/child a member of an Indian tribe?
- Is the prospective adoptee/child eligible to be a member of an Indian tribe?
If the answer to either of those questions turns out to be yes, then a federal law known as the Indian Child Welfare Act (“ICWA”) is triggered and special procedures must be observed. In determining whether an adoption should be granted, a court must not only look at the best interests of the child, but also take into consideration the interests of the child’s Indian tribe. Preference for adoption is to be given to the child’s extended family within that tribe over a non-tribe member non-relative.
A recent South Carolina adoption case involved the Indian Child Welfare Act. The following video from CNN discusses this case of “Baby Veronica” and the impact of the Indian Child Welfare Act on her adoption:
Interfaith Marriage and Divorce
According to USA Today, a 2001 American Religious Identification Survey found that divorce is three times more likely in interfaith marriage than from those marriages where each partner is from the same faith. Here are some other findings from the 2001 survey:
- 22% of U.S. homes had at least two people from two different faiths in the household;
- 28.4 million Americans are living in interfaith households;
What is a Florida Parenting Plan?
For every Florida divorce case in which child custody issues are being decided, the judge must enter a parenting plan.
A parenting plan is a document that sets out parents’ rights and responsibilities towards their children. The parenting plan will explain each parent’s right to make major decisions concerning the children (such as education or medical decisions). The parenting plan will also flesh out each parent’s right to spend time with the children and detail which specific days the children will sleep overnight at each parent’s home.
Tampa’s Edgecomb Courthouse to be Closed During Republican National Convention
Edgecomb Courthouse in Tampa
Hillsborough County’s Thirteenth Judicial Circuit has posted its administrative plans for operations during the Republican National Convention. Although essential court services will be available at other locations, there will be no hearings, trials, or other court events from August 27 to August 31 at the George Edgecomb Courthouse, located at 800 East Twiggs Street, Tampa, Florida 33602.
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If you are involved in a Florida divorce or other family law matter and you are seeking to speak with a Tampa Bay family law attorney, contact The Law Firm of Adam B. Cordover, P.A., at (813) 443-0615 or through our online form.
Tampa’s Head Family Law Judge Endorses Collaborative Process
Judge Catherine M. Catlin, Associate Administrative Judge of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit’s Domestic Relations Division, recently lead a round table discussion sponsored by the Collaborative Divorce Institute of Tampa Bay (“CDITB”). Judge Catlin relayed, among other things, that she encourages clients to participate in private alternative dispute resolution methods such as collaborative practice.
From L to R: Bob Evans, Christine Hearn, Adam B. Cordover, Judge Catherine M. Catlin, Beth Reineke, Lara Davis, David Harper
Collaborative practice (also known as collaborative family law, collaborative process, and collaborative divorce) is a method of resolving disputes where the parties agree that they are not going to bring their case in front of a judge to decide issues of custody, division of assets, etc. Instead, they hire trained collaborative attorneys committed to reach a settlement. A neutral facilitator or mental health professional is retained to move the process forward and keep the parties focused on the future of the family and children rather than on the arguments of the past. A neutral financial expert is often brought on board to develop settlement options that make sense for the family’s financial well-being.
