What Issues are Appropriate for Collaborative Law?

Many people think Collaborative Law is useful only in cases where both parties are basically in agreement. They think that spouses or ex-spouses couldn't sit down and have civilized negotiations on sensitive child custody or financial issues. Because couples get into arguments on their own, some think that Collaborative Law can't work in high conflict families or where there may have been infidelity or other misconduct. Those people are wrong because Collaborative Law, with its emphasis on looking forward and not spreading blame for past actions, is usually a much better vehicle for resolution of significant issues. Where parties value privacy and controlling their own destiny, Collaborative is a much preferred alternative.

Here are some of the issues which can be effectively resolved with Collaborative Law:

• Divorce
• Annulment
• Prenuptial agreements
• Post-marital partition agreements
• Division and sharing of parental rights, powers and duties
• Child custody
• Child support
• Visitation, including specialized schedules for certain occupations
• Education expenses, from day care to pre-school to private school to college to graduate school
• Alimony/ spousal maintenance
• Property division
• Complex property division issues
• Debt division
• Tax planning
• Paternity issues
• Break-up of same sex relationships
• Modification of existing orders
• Enforcement of existing orders
• Health and life insurance issues
• Disability needs
• Special needs children
• Professional practices
• Family businesses

While this is not an exhaustive list, it does provide an indication of the broad range of issues that can be successfully navigated through the use of the Collaborative Law approach.