The traditional divorce model pits husband versus wife, mother versus father. Collaborative Law is a refreshing team-oriented alternative. Each client retains a separate attorney whose job is to counsel the client and help resolve disputes. The attorneys work together to help both clients meet their needs. Open communication is advanced by a trained facilitator, while support and property options are developed by a neutral financial professional. The clients, attorneys, and other team members agree beforehand that the matter will not be brought into the court system until a full agreement is reached.
The Collaborative Process allows for flexible, creative solutions to a family law matter. The team explores options that look beyond a legal framework by incorporating the skills and expertise of the facilitator and financial professional. Clients are encouraged to focus on the best interests of their family, rather than rigid negotiation positions, to reach their goals. In the unlikely event that a settlement is not reached, the Collaborative attorneys withdraw and litigation lawyers may be retained. The knowledge that the Collaborative attorneys cannot bring the case in front of a judge further permits the parties to speak openly about potential settlement options (and frees attorneys from conducting exhaustive, costly opposition research).
I recently was reviewed by a former client on the Facebook Page for Family Diplomacy: A Collaborative Law Firm. The client discusses the need to determine whether the style of an attorney you may use in your divorce is focused on encouraging fighting and earning the billable hour or encouraging collaboration and focusing on your family.
FLORIDA BAR NOTICE: Each case is different, and you may not retain the same or similar results.
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!
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.
For this past Independence Day holiday, WWE wrestler John Cena released a public service announcement video celebrating the diversity of the U.S. In the video, Cena can be seen walking around the Tampa neighborhood of Ybor City as he proclaims that we all are America.
While the video is shooting, Cena passes by people of all races, nationalities, creeds, and orientations. At the 1:07 mark, Cena walks by Rabbi Mendy Dubrowski of Chabad Chai South Tampa.
You can find the video after the jump:
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:
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:
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.
Ever since our new website, FamilyDiplomacy.com, launched in August of 2015, the readership on our Blog has steadily increased. Though it is not an exact comparison, in the first 6 months of 2016, we had 2,750 individual visitors and 5,900 views, which is over a 55% increase in individual visitors and 70% increase in views over the last five months of 2015.
At the end of last year, we create a blog listing the top 10 viewed posts so far. Now, you can find the top 20 viewed blog posts of FamilyDiplomacy.com over the first six months below (click the title to go to the blog post):
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…
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…
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…
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…
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..
Collaborative practice is not just for divorce. It is most commonly associated with divorce, but it can be used as a non-adversarial, private form of dispute resolution in many different scenarios. Further, there are many cases where a divorce does not begin collaboratively, and yet ends up in the collaborative process.
Below are links to posts written by Family Diplomacy managing attorney Adam B. Cordover on unique forms of collaborative practice in Tampa Bay:
A Complicated Divorce Goes Collaborative
Do You Need a Divorce Second Opinion?
https://familydiplomacy.com/blog/collaborative-divorce/do-you-need-a-divorce-second-opinion/
Collaborative Law in Medical Malpractice
Polyamorous Divorce in Tampa Bay
https://familydiplomacy.com/blog/lgbt-family-law-matters/polyamorous-divorce-in-tampa-bay/
Florida’s Department of Business & Professional Regulation Division of Certified Public Accounting requires CPAs to complete a certain amount of continuing education units to remain licensed.
On May 3, 2016, Family Diplomacy managing attorney Adam B. Cordover, alongside collaborative professionals Sonya Johnson and Monica Epstein, provided continuing education units for the accountants of Cohen & Grieb, P.A. Cordover, Johnson, and Epstein gave a workshop on “Collaborative Family Law: The Smart Alternative to Courtroom Divorce.”
The workshop, held during National Small Business Week, focused on the effects that divorce can have on small businesses, and how collaborative family law can help ameliorate those effects.
The International Academy of Collaborative Professionals promulgates Minimum Standards to hold oneself out as a collaborative professional. Those standards include a requirement that each collaborative professional attend a 2-day introductory collaborative training where they learn the process, skills, theories, and ethics of collaborative practice.
On April 29-30, Family Diplomacy managing attorney Adam B. Cordover conducted an introductory training, alongside internationally renowned collaborative trainer and Licensed Mental Health Counselor Anne R. Lucas of Kirkland, Washington, and highly experienced collaborative financial neutral and Certified Public Accountant/Accredited in Business Valuation Kristin DiMeo of Tampa, Florida.
