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What Are the Benefits of Opting for Collaborative Divorce in Texas?
Divorce is not an easy time, but if there’s any way to make it go more quickly and simply, you should definitely take it. For some couples, a collaborative divorce, which is a type of Alternative Dispute Resolutions (ADR), is the best way to get through this hard time as quickly and with as few opportunities for hurt feelings and contention as possible. A Houston, TX divorce lawyer can help you understand whether this type of divorce is best for you and your situation. If it is, you can take advantage of many benefits.
What Are the Benefits of Opting for Collaborative Divorce in Houston, TX?
Save Money
This is perhaps the biggest benefit to taking an alternative resolution route to your divorce: it’s much cheaper than going through litigation. If you have a contested divorce, it can end up costing you many thousands of dollars, but if you can agree on most issues and collaborate, you’ll save yourself a lot of expense. In fact, estimates show that couples who choose to collaborate on their divorce in this way usually spend, on average, half as much as those who take their divorce to court.
Divorce is a very expensive thing. Not only are there the actual costs of the divorce, but most couples find that their expenses go up when they separate because it’s simply cheaper for two people to live together than for two people to live separately. If you can save money on your divorce, you’ll start your new life on a much better financial footing.
Speed Things Up
Divorce is hard enough under any circumstances, but when the entire process gets drawn out, everyone suffers. You and your partner both suffer extended stress and uncertainty. If you have children, it can be harder on them then even on you. The goal should always be to get through this time as quickly as possible, and one of the big benefits of collaborating on your divorce is that it takes, on average, just half the time (or even less) than it would take if you were to go into litigation.
Lower Your Stress Overall
It’s not just speeding things up that makes this type of divorce less stressful. Because this divorce does not happen in the courtroom, there’s much less opportunity for bitterness and contention. You will be working together with your lawyers to come to an amicable solution to your disagreements, and in a far more relaxed environment than a courtroom. This means that the overall stress is usually greatly reduced compared to a typical divorce.
Keep Things Private
When you go into litigation, most of the process becomes part of the public record and can therefore be accessed under the right circumstances by other people. If you want to make sure your information remains private, then collaborative divorce is absolutely the way to go. Your lawyer can tell you more about this aspect of the divorce and how best to protect your privacy in any type of divorce.
You Stay In Control
If you have to go into the courtroom, you’ll find that, in the end, the judge ends up having a lot of say in how your marriage will end and how your family will structure itself moving forward. If you don’t agree with the way things are ordered, that doesn’t matter: once a judge has issued an order, it’s binding unless you’re able to successfully modify it, which is not simple to do.
One of the biggest benefits of using an alternative dispute resolution method to divorce is that you and your spouse can keep control over your lives. So long as you can reach an agreement that is acceptable under the law, a judge is likely to sign off on it with no issues. This is one of the benefits your lawyer will bring to the ADR process. Your lawyer will look at any agreement you come to and make sure that it will be acceptable to the court and help you to either modify it if there are concerns or present it to the court in a way that will convincingly show why it’s best.
An Agreement That Fits You
The first step in your divorce will be to sit down with your attorney and talk through all the issues. This will include how your assets are distributed, whether someone is going to keep the family home or not, child visitation and custody, child support, spousal support, and much more. Once you and your lawyer know what you want, you’ll meet together with your spouse and their lawyers and talk together in a non-adversarial setting to ask questions, give your opinion, and make requests as you work on hammering out an agreement.
One of the big benefits of this is that you have the freedom and latitude to come up with some creative solutions that might not ever be suggested by the court. Again, so long as what you come up with is acceptable under the law, this should be fine.
An Agreement You Can Live With
When the terms of your divorce are imposed upon you by a judge and court, there can be hard feelings, anger, and bitterness that persists for quite a long time. Either you or your partner may find yourself constantly reluctant to follow the terms of the divorce because they don’t seem fair to you or haven’t really taken it into consideration your unique needs.
A great benefit of collaboration is that you’re entering this process voluntarily and have a much higher likelihood of coming to an equitable solution that you’re both happy with. And if you’re both happy with it, you are more likely to stick with it. It’s also more likely that you and your spouse will be able to maintain a peaceful, collaborative working relationship to care for your children, and which helps them feel secure.
Are There Any Drawbacks?
Although a collaborative divorce is a great way for many couples to solve their issues, it may not be right for everyone. One issue to consider is that if you and your spouse cannot come to an agreement, you have to start over from scratch. All the time and money you’ve put into the process will be lost. You can’t just go to court to get it solved as you would with ordinary mediation, and you will need to get new lawyers.
This type of divorce is also only appropriate for couples who both want to get divorced, are willing to negotiate, and have the ability to work together calmly. If there’s any domestic violence, if you’re so angry at each other that you can’t communicate, or if there is an unusually great power dynamic between you, this is likely not the right route for you. Occasionally, the court will not allow a couple to use this type of ADR if it believes there’s a chance one party may be able to coerce the other.
To find out more and see if a collaborative divorce is the right move for you, reach out to us at C.E. Schmidt & Associates, PLLC in Houston, TX today to start a free consultation.
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