COLLABORATIVE DIVORCE AND FAMILY LAW IN FLORIDA. No matter how you look at it, divorce and family law matters are difficult to go through. Expectations of stability are shattered,
mistrust grows, and bills pile up. And then the litigation begins. Attorneys file and serve petitions, counterpetitions, requests to produce, and motions to compel. Each party hires dueling mental health experts to convince a judge that he or she should have more time with the children. Privacy is eliminated as each party’s life is probed and publicly questioned so that one side may gain a tactical advantage.
But there is a different way. A more civilized way. And it is called Collaborative Family Law (also known as Collaborative Divorce or Collaborative Practice).
We are a Collaborative law firm dedicated to helping people resolve personal disputes without destroying their families. We encourage the use of the Collaborative Family Law model in divorce, child custody, child support, alimony, post-judgment, prenuptial, and most other family law cases. Further, Adam B. Cordover is an internationally-recognized leader in Collaborative Practice, a trainer who teaches other professionals how to help families Collaboratively, and author of an upcoming American Bar Association book on Collaborative Law.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.“
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.
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.
In a recent post, George laid out his philosophy on collaborative practice and wellness. You can find a portion of the post below.
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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http://www.collaborativefamilylawfl.com/collaborative-training/
BASIC AND ADVANCED COLLABORATIVE TRAINING
Friday January 6 – Saturday January 7, 2017 – Basic Training from 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Sunday January 8, 2017- Advanced Training from 8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
PLACE: Nova Southeastern University, 3301 College Ave., Davie, FL, – Maltz Psychology Building
Are you an attorney who wants to offer an alternative to litigation to your divorcing clients? Have you heard about this new way of assisting clients through divorce without the need for court
involvement? Are you a Financial Professional, Mental Health Professional or Mediator wanting to offer alternatives to traditional litigation support in divorce?
Divorce can be one of the most turbulent times in your life, and so it makes me feel good when I can help clients gain a sense of empowerment and stability.
In a recent review on Avvo.com, a former client of mine discusses how our firm and the collaborative process helped her take back control of her life.
FLORIDA BAR NOTICE: Please note that every case is different, and that you may not receive the same or similar results.
I no longer litigate. This means that I do not appear in contested court hearings in Tampa or any other area in which I practice. I have made this decision because I have found that most people who are divorcing do not want to tear down their spouse in court; rather they want to move on with their lives, as peacefully, privately, and quickly as possible.
In the video below, collaborative attorney Enid Miller Ponn Discusses why she no longer litigates:
Tampa attorney Adam B. Cordover lead a workshop at the 17th Annual Educational and Networking Forum of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (“IACP”). The Forum took place in Lake Las Vegas, Nevada, and was attended by hundreds of attorneys, mental health professionals, financial professionals, mediators, and other supportive of helping families resolve disputes respectfully and privately via the collaborative process.
Cordover lead the workshop alongside Barrie, Ontario lawyer Brian Galbraith and Seattle, Washington attorney Kevin Scudder. The program was called “Collaborative Multiverse,” and the idea was to lead a townhall-style debate and discussion among experienced collaborative practitioners on issues affecting collaborative practice.
Brian Galbraith, Adam B. Cordover, and Kevin Scudder at the 17th Annual IACP Forum (2016)
One topic that was discussed was determining the best collaborative model to use for each particular family. Different parts of the world predominantly use different arrangements of professionals to resolve divorce and other issues. In Florida, the main model that is used is known as the Neutral Facilitator model, where each party has an attorney, a neutral facilitator with a mental health licensure helps with parenting issues and ensures discussions are future-focused, and a neutral financial professional aids in creating family budgets and ensures financial transparency and disclosure.
