Top 10 Reasons to Choose Collaborative Law

1. There is a better way

• Litigation is expensive, open to the public, and often destructive to families

• Litigation is a blame game with no real winner

• Collaborative law focuses on your goals and how to help you reach those goals

• Collaborative law changes the focus from who is at fault, to how to solve the problem

2. Control Over The Process

• Settlements are reached through a series of joint meetings based on each client’s schedule

• Collaborative law allows the clients to decide the pace of process

• You make the decision how to restructure their family and life

• The Court cannot interfere with your case for two years

3. High Level of Confidentiality

• No public hearings in the court room with your friends, neighbors, and strangers hearing your private business

• The work and opinions of the neutrals in the team model are not admissible in evidence if your case goes to litigation

• Clients have the option to ask the court to seal the court file at the conclusion of the case

4. Less Stressful

• You do not have to testify in court or worry about having your deposition taken

• Collaborative law requires full disclosure of information and hiding assets or debts is prohibited

• Clients are required to abide by a certain code of conduct

• Collaborative law requires the clients to treat each other with respect

5. Focus on Family

• Collaborative law focuses on the future of you and your family, not the past

• Communication is encouraged between the clients

• The clients are encouraged not to assign blame

6. Cost Efficient

• Joint email communications are used to save time and money

• Neutral professionals are used so that the clients are not paying for two lawyers to do the work that one neutral can perform

• No money is spent for lawyers to file motions, interview witnesses, prepare witnesses or take depositions

• Your money is being spent to reach a resolution

7. Flexible Solutions

• You are not bound by the Texas Family Code

• Clients customize the final outcome to meet their shared goals

• You decide what is in the best interest of your family, not the judge

• The neutral expert can figure out creative ideas to divide assets and debts in light of goals and needs, not in light of codes and rules

8. Save The Trees

• Collaborative law avoids burdensome and expensive formal discovery of documents

• Parties decide what documents are needed and how they will be exchanged

• Only necessary documents are exchanged instead of using standardized requests for large amounts of information that will likely never be used

• With Collaborative law, paper is saved, time is saved and money is saved by not playing paper war

9. Emotions Are Managed

• Neutral professionals, with an entirely different skill set than the lawyers, help to manage emotions

• Cooling off periods are used to help diffuse anger and fears

• Small emotional flare-ups are handled before they turn into a large raging outbursts

• No one can rush to the courthouse when emotions are high

10. Focus is Solely on Settlement

• Most cases settle after large amounts of money have been spent preparing for hearings or trial.

• Collaborative law starts with settlement being the goal from the very beginning

• With Collaborative law, the focus is on settling differences, not proving the other person is bad or wrong