Video: Linda Solomon And The Neutral Facilitator Collaborative Divorce Model

July 11, 2015/0 Comments/in Collaborative Divorce //Tags: collaborative attorney, collaborative divorce, collaborative divorce training, collaborative facilitator, collaborative family law, collaborative financial professional, Collaborative Law, collaborative mental health professional, collaborative practice, divorce, florida divorce, International Academy of Collaborative Professionals, Next Generation Divorce, Tampa Bay Collaborative Divorce, Tampa Bay Collaborative Family Law, uncontested divorceby Adam B. Cordover, Attorney-at-Law

Collaborative divorce has one simple requirement: The spouses must each retain attorneys who focus solely on helping them reach an agreement on all issues. The collaborative attorneys are private problem-solving specialists, and they cannot be used in contested court hearings. This requirement creates a safe, non-adversarial environment so that each spouse knows that the other spouse’s attorney is not attempting to gather information to use against him or her later in court. It also ensures that resources are directed towards helping the clients reach an agreement rather than wasted in opposition research or dirty trial tactics.

There are many different models of collaborative divorce that are used throughout the world. The model that is most frequently used here in Florida involves one neutral facilitator, who generally has a mental health background, and one neutral financial professional. This model was created in Texas by, among others, Linda Solomon, a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist.

You can learn more about Linda Solomon and the beginning of this model in the video below from Cutting Edge Law:

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Five Stages of Grief In Divorce

June 7, 2015/0 Comments/in Collaborative Divorce, Divorce, Divorce Work //Tags: collaborative attorney, collaborative divorce, collaborative facilitator, collaborative family law, Collaborative Law, collaborative mental health professional, collaborative practice, divorce, florida divorce, no fault divorce, Tampa Bay Collaborative Divorce, Tampa Bay Collaborative Family Lawby Adam B. Cordover, Attorney-at-Law

In 1969, a Swiss psychiatrist, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, published a book in which she described the five stages of grief experienced by terminally-ill patients. This work was later expanded to help explain the emotions of people who have lost a loved one and others experiencing personal loss, such as spouses going through divorce.

Divorce is a trauma, and anyone going through this trauma may be helped by speaking with a counselor or therapist. Additionally, you should consider whether the collaborative family law process may be helpful to your family, as it is a private form of dispute resolution that generally involves a neutral facilitator, who usually has a mental health background. This is in recognition that divorce is not just a legal matter, but also a highly emotional matter.

Regardless, below are the five stages of grief you may experience if you are going through divorce:

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Video: General’s Daughter Discusses Her Peaceful Divorce

May 23, 2015/1 Comment/in Collaborative Divorce //Tags: child custody, child custody case, co-parenting, collaborative attorney, collaborative divorce, collaborative facilitator, collaborative family law, collaborative financial professional, Collaborative Law, collaborative mental health professional, collaborative practice, divorce, florida divorce, military divorce, parenting plan, Tampa Bay Collaborative Divorce, Tampa Bay Collaborative Family Law, Tampa Bay Divorce Attorney, time-sharingby Adam B. Cordover, Attorney-at-Law

Cynthia Schwarzkopf, daughter of General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr, discusses how she and her husband utilized the collaborative family law process to dissolve her marriage in a video released by the Tampa Bay Collaborative Divorce Group.

You can see the video below the jump:

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A Non-Adversarial Divorce in Tampa Bay

May 17, 2015/0 Comments/in Collaborative Divorce //Tags: collaborative attorney, collaborative divorce, collaborative facilitator, collaborative family law, collaborative financial professional, Collaborative Law, collaborative mental health professional, collaborative practice, divorce, florida divorce, non-adversarial divorce, Tampa Bay Collaborative Divorce, Tampa Bay Collaborative Family Lawby Adam B. Cordover, Attorney-at-Law

When most people think of divorce, they think of a courthouse battle. Florida’s court system pits husband versus wife, mother versus father, and what ensues is many times not too different from divorces depicted in War of the Roses or Kramer vs. Kramer.

But collaborative divorce is something different altogether.

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Tampa Bay Times Article on 2015 Florida Collaborative Divorce Bill

April 5, 2015/0 Comments/in Collaborative Divorce, Family Law News, Legislative Update //Tags: collaborative attorney, collaborative divorce, collaborative facilitator, collaborative family law, collaborative financial professional, Collaborative Law, collaborative mental health professional, collaborative practice, dissolution of marriage, divorce, florida divorce, International Academy of Collaborative Professionals, Next Generation Divorce, Tampa Bay Collaborative Divorce, Tampa Bay Collaborative Family Lawby Adam B. Cordover, Attorney-at-Law

The Tampa Bay Times recently published an article on collaborative divorce. The article quotes four local collaborative professionals (attorneys Ingrid Hooglander, Tanya O’Conner, and Mark Moon, and psychologist Rachel Moskowitz), all of whom are members of Next Generation Divorce, an interdisciplinary group of professionals dedicated to educating the public about a healthier way to resolve their family disputes.

The article also interviews State Senator Tom Lee of Brandon, who is the sponsor of Senate Bill 642, the Collaborative Law Practice Act. Though collaborative law is already being practiced as a private way to resolve divorces and other family law issues in Tampa Bay and throughout Florida, the bill provides a legal framework for the process and adds protections to the privacy of communications during settlement talks.

Below is an excerpt:

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What is the Purpose of Florida Family Law?

February 9, 2015/1 Comment/in Collaborative Divorce, Florida Statutes //Tags: collaborative attorney, collaborative divorce, collaborative facilitator, collaborative family law, collaborative financial professional, Collaborative Law, collaborative mental health professional, collaborative practice, divorce, florida divorce, Florida Statutes, paternityby Adam B. Cordover, Attorney-at-Law

Anyone who has gone through a divorce, paternity, or other family law proceeding in Hillsborough County or elsewhere in Florida may have wondered: What is the purpose of Florida Family Law?

Well, section 61.001(2) purports to have an answer:

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What Your Florida Divorce Lawyer May Not Be Telling You

June 22, 2014/0 Comments/in Collaborative Divorce, Divorce, Divorce Court //Tags: child custody, child custody case, child support, co-parenting, collaborative attorney, collaborative divorce, collaborative divorce training, collaborative facilitator, collaborative family law, collaborative financial professional, Collaborative Law, collaborative mental health professional, collaborative practice, contested divorce, divorce, Florida child custody, florida divorce, Hillsborough County, International Academy of Collaborative Professionals, Manatee County, Next Generation Divorce, no fault divorce, parenting plan, Pasco County, Pinellas County, Sarasota County, Tampa Bay Collaborative Divorce, Tampa Bay Collaborative Family Lawby Adam B. Cordover, Attorney-at-Law

The vast majority of divorce attorneys in Tampa Bay and around Florida are good, hardworking people with their clients’ best interests always at mind. However, there is one divorce option that more and more financial and mental health professionals agree is the best way to handle a family law matter, and yet many attorneys will not tell their clients about it: collaborative divorce.

Collaborative divorce is a private form of dispute resolution where each spouse hires their own attorney only for the purposes of helping to negotiate a marital settlement agreement. Collaborative attorneys are contractually prohibited from going to trial or bringing any contested issues to be decided by a judge.

Trial Divorce = Big $$ for Attorneys

This is one reason why there are a lot of divorce trial lawyers who are against collaborative divorce: attorneys make a lot of money billing time for trial-related activities such as depositions, interrogatories, witness preparation, exhibit analysis and selection, and trial itself. Trial attorneys bill this time even though they know that 95% of all divorce cases end in settlement, even sometimes after trial but right before a judge issues a ruling. Read more →

Tampa Same Sex Divorce and Collaborative Practice

April 19, 2014/2 Comments/in Collaborative Divorce, Family Law News //Tags: collaborative attorney, collaborative divorce, collaborative divorce training, collaborative facilitator, collaborative family law, collaborative financial professional, Collaborative Law, collaborative mental health professional, collaborative practice, dissolution of marriage, divorce, florida divorce, gay and lesbian couples, gay and lesbian parents, gay marriage, gay rights, lesbian parental rights, lesbian rights, LGBT family law rights, Next Generation Divorce, no fault divorce, same sex couples, same sex marriage, Tampa Bay Collaborative Divorce, Tampa Bay Collaborative Family Law, uncontested divorceby Adam B. Cordover, Attorney-at-Law

Same Sex Couple Seeks Divorce in Florida

I have recently been involved in a Tampa family law matter that has made a couple of headlines lately. I represent a client who married her wife in Massachusetts, they moved to Florida, and ultimately they decided that their same sex marriage was irretrievably broken. The women reached a full settlement on all their marital issues, and, as the media has reported, now they are asking the court to grant them a divorce.

What has gotten far less attention is the fact that the women reached a full settlement agreement and formed a united front using the private collaborative family law process.

Unlike the more familiar divorce proceedings where parties hire gunslinger lawyers and have their dirty laundry aired in public courthouses, these women each retained a collaboratively-trained attorney (Ellen Ware and myself) who are experienced in respectful and interest-based negotiations. We attorneys were hired specifically to focus on reaching an amicable settlement in private offices; we both agreed that we would not inflame the situation by “building a case” against the other party and bringing arguments between the clients into the public courtroom.

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What Is A Florida Parenting Plan?

January 22, 2014/0 Comments/in Collaborative Divorce, Custody, Kids //Tags: 6th Judicial Circuit, Best Divorce Tampa, child custody, child custody case, child custody determination, co-parenting, collaborative attorney, collaborative divorce, collaborative facilitator, collaborative family law, Collaborative Law, collaborative mental health professional, collaborative practice, divorce, Florida child custody, florida divorce, Next Generation Divorce, parental responsibility, parenting plan, Pasco County, pasco county florida, Pinellas County, shared parental responsibility, sole parental responsibility, Tampa Bay Collaborative Divorce, Tampa Bay Collaborative Family Law, temporary child custody, time-sharing, uncontested divorceby Adam B. Cordover, Attorney-at-Law

Any Florida parent who is going through a divorce with children or otherwise dealing with child custody issues will need to have a parenting plan. A parenting plan is document that is either agreed upon by the parents or created by a judge that sets out each parents’ rights and responsibilities. The Sixth Judicial Circuit (Pinellas and Pasco Counties) further describes a parenting plan as follows:

It is the public policy of this state to assure that each minor child has frequent and continuing contact with both parents after the parents separate or the marriage of the parties is dissolved and to encourage parents to share the rights and responsibilities, and joys, of childrearing. Florida Statutes, section 61.13(2)(c).

A parenting plan is a document developed and agreed to by the parents of a minor child, and approved by the court, or if the parents cannot agree, established by the court, which governs the relationship between the parents regarding the child (encompassing “custody”, “parental responsibility”, and “visitation”). A parenting plan may address issues such as the child’s education, health care, and physical, social, and emotional well-being, and must include a time-sharing schedule. The parenting plan must take into account the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, the International Child Abduction Remedies Act, the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act, and the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction when addressing jurisdictional issues.

For purposes of establishing or modifying parental responsibility and creating, developing, approving, or modifying a parenting plan, including a time-sharing schedule, which governs each parent’s relationship with his or her minor child and the relationship between each parent with regard to his or her minor child, the best interest of the child shall be the primary consideration.

Any parenting plan approved by a court must address the following issues:

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How to Avoid a Nasty Divorce Battle in Tampa Bay

January 6, 2014/0 Comments/in Collaborative Divorce, Divorce, Healthy Divorce //Tags: collaborative attorney, collaborative divorce, collaborative divorce training, collaborative facilitator, collaborative family law, collaborative financial professional, Collaborative Law, collaborative mental health professional, collaborative practice, contested divorce, divorce, florida divorce, no fault divorce, Tampa Bay Collaborative Divorce, Tampa Bay Collaborative Family Law, uncontested divorceby Adam B. Cordover, Attorney-at-Law

When people come to my office for the first time to discuss their Tampa Bay divorce, they are often nervous because they want to end their marriage, but they don’t want to have the knock-down, drag-out court battles that they frequently hear about in the news. They simply want to resolve their family disputes as quickly, privately, and respectfully as possible, while also ensuring that they do not get the raw end of the deal.

And so many of these spouses are pleasantly surprised when I let them know that there is an option which fits all of these criteria: collaborative divorce.

The first and most important defining feature of collaborative divorce is that the parties each have their own attorney, and everyone agrees that they will not let a judge decide disputed issues. In fact, the attorneys are contractually barred from filing any contested motions or bringing matters that have not yet been agreed upon before a judge. This means that the parties and their attorneys will not be trying to tear each other down in a public forum and say things that cannot go unsaid. Rather, they meet in private offices on the parties’ schedules and agree that all discussion held in the meetings will be confidential until a comprehensive settlement is reached.

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Tag Archive for: florida divorce

Video: Linda Solomon And The Neutral Facilitator Collaborative Divorce Model

Five Stages of Grief In Divorce

A Non-Adversarial Divorce in Tampa Bay

Tampa Bay Times Article on 2015 Florida Collaborative Divorce Bill

What is the Purpose of Florida Family Law?

What Your Florida Divorce Lawyer May Not Be Telling You

Trial Divorce = Big $$ for Attorneys

Tampa Same Sex Divorce and Collaborative Practice

How to Avoid a Nasty Divorce Battle in Tampa Bay

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