Collaborative Divorce : Family Diplomacy | A Collaborative Law Firm

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.

Four Questions to Ask a Collaborative Divorce Lawyer

August 24, 2016/0 Comments/in Collaborative Divorce, Divorce, Divorce Process, Training //Tags: collaborative attorney, collaborative divorceby Adam

More and more people are deciding that they want to avoid the traditional adversarial divorce court system and instead handle their family law matter privately and respectfully via the collaborative process. In collaborative divorce, each spouse receives independent legal advice from his or her own attorney, and the attorneys are retained solely for the purpose of reaching an out-of-court agreement. Oftentimes, experts will be brought in to help with parenting or financial issues.

collaborative divorce lawyer

As collaborative divorce is becoming more popular and since Florida Governor Rick Scott signed the Collaborative Law Process Act in March 2016, more attorneys who are steeped in the old system of divorce court are now advertising that they offer collaborative services. The issue is that the skillset needed to successfully help clients reach dignified agreements in collaborative practice is very different than the skillset needed to be an aggressive trial lawyer.

Below are four questions you should ask any attorney you are interviewing to possibly represent you in the collaborative divorce process.

Vegas, Baby! IACP Forum Early Bird Pricing Ends 8/17

August 16, 2016/0 Comments/in Collaborative Divorce, Training //Tags: IACP, International Academy of Collaborative Professionalsby Adam

For any collaborative professional looking to expense a trip to Vegas, look no further than the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (“IACP”) Networking and Educational Forum, taking place October 27-30, 2016, in Lake Las Vegas, Nevada. And early bird pricing ends August 17, 2016, so you should sign up right away!

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The theme is “Welcome to the Future,” and 600 collaborative professionals from 27 countries are expected to attend. There will be 8 in-demand Pre-Forum Institutes led by premier educators in the Collaborative community (including Pauline Tesler and Ron Ousky) as well as 30 intensive and intriguing workshops including 10 three-hour courses.

Video: Tampa Real Estate Agent Discusses Collaborative Divorce

August 3, 2016/0 Comments/in Collaborative Divorce, Divorce //Tags: collaborative divorce, equitable distribution, marital home, property divisionby Adam

Tampa real estate agent Rande Friedman was recently interviewed on the topic of collaborative divorce. Rande, of White Glove House, has lived in the Tampa Bay area for the past 30 years, and he has been in the real estate industry for around ten years.

Rande is also a member of Next Generation Divorce, one of the nation’s largest interdisciplinary collaborative practice groups with professionals helping families in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Sarasota, and Manatee Counties. Rande became involved in Next Generation Divorce after he helped a family who used the collaborative process in their divorce. Rande found them in a better state of mind to agree upon their real estate needs and move on with their lives compared to clients who had litigated their divorce.

You can find a video and partial transcript of Rande Friedman discussing his experience with families transitioning via collaborative divorce after the jump:

Protecting Your Tampa Bay Business With A Prenuptial Agreement

August 1, 2016/0 Comments/in Business, Collaborative Divorce, Divorce, Marital Assets, Money & Property //Tags: collaborative marriage planning, equitable distribution, postmarital agreement, postnuptial agreement, premarital agreement, prenuptial agreement, small businessby Adam

Under Florida divorce law, businesses are subject to equitable distribution. This essentially means that it can be considered a marital asset that is divided as part of the resolution of all divorce-related issues.

Small-business owners, who have shed blood, sweat, and tears for their endeavor, find it surprising and frightening that a business might be divided in divorce. Further, this can be disruptive to the spouse of the small business owner; if the business begins failing due to protracted fighting or litigation, the spouse’s ability to receive alimony or child support is greatly reduced.

One way to protect a business from the fallout of divorce is to enter into a prenuptial agreement or, if you are already married, into a postnuptial agreement.

Video: Manatee/Sarasota Financial Professional Discusses Collaborative Divorce

July 28, 2016/0 Comments/in Collaborative Divorce //Tags: 12th Judicial Circuit, collaborative divorce, Hillsborough County, Manatee County, Pasco County, Pinellas County, Sarasota Countyby Adam

Divorce is not just a legal challenge. It is also usually a financial challenge.

Unlike the traditional courtroom divorce, interdisciplinary collaborative divorce prepares clients to budget for the future and anticipate post-divorce life so that the challenges can be met.

Brian Pope of Divorce Financial Solutions is one of the premiere neutral financial professionals in the 12th Circuit of Florida (DeSoto, Manatee, and Sarasota Counties). Brian has an MBA and is designated as a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst. In fact, several years ago Brian and I worked together to bring Next Generation Divorce – Florida’s largest practice group of independent collaborative attorneys, mental health professionals, and financial professionals – into Manatee and Sarasota Counties.

You can find a brief interview of Brian and a discussion of his work in the collaborative process in the following video (after the jump):

Helping Divorce Lawyers Become Peacemakers

July 26, 2016/0 Comments/in Collaborative Divorce, Mediation, Training /by Adam

I am a collaborative family law attorney. I help families divorce privately and respectfully so that they can end their marriage but also begin their post-marriage life as peacefully as possible.

I am also a trainer. I train attorneys, mental health professionals, and financial professionals how to offer collaborative services to divorcing couples and others handling family law matters.

This past weekend I was in Chicago at a master class led by Forrest (Woody) Mosten on how to train in a way that lets divorce attorneys and others know that they can do well by doing good. Woody is a leading collaborative attorney and mediator, as well as a best-selling author out of Beverly Hills, California. He also happens to be a friend of mine, a mentor, and my co-author for an upcoming American Bar Association book on Building A Successful Collaborative Law Practice.

The class, which included 15 hand-selected attorneys and mental health professionals from around the U.S. and Canada, was described by Canadian social worker and media personality Gary Direnfeld as follows:

What Is The Least Expensive Way To Divorce In Tampa Bay?

July 25, 2016/0 Comments/in Collaborative Divorce, Divorce, Mediation, Quick Divorce //Tags: mediation, pro se mediationby Adam

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN IN 2016 AND THE HOURLY RATES BELOW DO NOT REFLECT OUR CURRENT RATES

You have probably heard of divorce horror stories where couples have suffered for years entrenched in court battles and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. Fortunately, this is more the exception than the rule, but still, divorce usually is not cheap. It is a process, and there are raw emotions involved, but there are methods that can cost more or less.

So what is the least expensive way to divorce?

Tampa Bay Tomorrow Radio: A Client Discusses Collaborative Divorce

July 18, 2016/1 Comment/in Collaborative Divorce, Family Law News //Tags: collaborative divorceby Adam

Tampa Bay Tomorrow host Corey Dylan recently welcomed “Clair,” a collaborative divorce client, on her show to talk about his experience. Clair was joined on air by his collaborative attorney, Julia Best Chase, along with the collaborative attorney who represented his former wife, Adam B. Cordover.

Clair discussed the reasons he and his wife chose the collaborative process, along with the ability of them to maintain a relationship after the collaborative divorce was finalized.

Tampa Bay Tomorrow is a program of the iHeart Media Group. This episode appeared on several radio stations, including WFLA 970, WFLZ 93.3, WFUS 103.5, WXTB 97.9, WDAE 620, WMTX 100.7, WBTP 95.7, and WHNZ 1250.

You can listen to the radio show after the jump:

Video: Cordover on Collaborative Divorce

July 7, 2016/0 Comments/in Collaborative Divorce, Family Law News //Tags: collaborative divorceby Adam

Tampa Bay collaborative attorney and Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Law Mediator Adam B. Cordover discusses collaborative divorce in the following short video:

“Most families do not want to be enemies, they do not want to be warring against one another. And so I have been inspired by these families, and I have found that most want a private option,” says Cordover in the video.

1. 2016 Collaborative Law Process Making Progress in Florida Legislature

Senate Bill 972, the “Collaborative Law Process Act,” is making its way through the Florida Senate and will hopefully become law this summer. The Collaborative Law Process Act creates a legal framework for families to resolve disputes outside of court. The bill specifies that…

2. Governor Scott Signs Florida Collaborative Divorce Bill Into Law

On March 24, 2016, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed HB 967, the “Collaborative Law Process Act,” making Florida the 14th state to have Collaborative Divorce codified in its laws…

3. Collaborative Divorce

Divorce is a trauma. It is tough not only for the spouses who are separating, but also for their children, their friends, their relatives, and their community. If you can avoid divorce, whether by seeking help from a therapist or clergy, you should attempt to do so. However, sometimes a marriage is truly irretrievably broken…

4. Florida to Make Marriage Certificates Gender Neutral. What About Birth Certificates?

According to a recent report in the Tampa edition of Creative Loafing, in light of the recent Supreme Court decision and issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples, Florida’s Office of Vital Statistics is making the state’s marriage certificates gender neutral…

5. Are Florida Divorce Courts Anti-Dad?

Over the past few years, there has been a movement to overhaul the alimony and child custody laws of Florida and other states. This is because husbands and fathers have felt like they are under siege in the family law court system. They have a glimmer of hope that, if only the laws were changed..