Our Elmhurst cooperative divorce attorneys explain how a collaborative Law Divorce is an alternative to litigating the issues involved in your divorce through the court system.  If both parties are negotiating the terms of the divorce in good faith, it can be much more cost-effective than traditional divorce.  

In a Collaborative Divorce, as in a traditional divorce, each party will hire his or her own attorney.  However, unlike a traditional divorce, both parties and each of their attorneys will sign a document called a "Participation Agreement" at the beginning of the process.  The Participation Agreement will typically provide that:

• The parties agree to negotiate in good faith outside of court with the hope of avoiding the necessity of litigating the issues involved in the divorce; 
• The parties agree to openly and honestly exchange complete information so traditional divorce tools such as written discovery and depositions will not be necessary;
• The attorneys agree that should the Collaborative Divorce process fail and litigation becomes necessary, they will withdraw representation from their clients and will not be permitted to represent their clients in any ensuing litigation.

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In this video, our Elmhurst cooperative attorneys explain how at O'Flaherty law we help you set realistic goals for your divorce and help figure out how to prioritize those goals. Compromising may be necessary in your divorce or even litigation if goals of each party don't line up. Determining long term and short term goals during the divorce is a start in the right direction for your divorce to avoid litigation. Once knowing your own priorities and goals on the matter and knowing your rights with the assistance of our lawyers it is important to learn the other side's priorities and rights as well to better collaborate and avoid disputes.

Our Elmhurst cooperative divorce attorneys know that divorce can be expensive and stressful.  Collaborative Divorce and Cooperative Divorce are alternatives to traditional divorce that, if successful, tend to significantly reduce the costs of divorce as well as the stress associated with litigation.  If the Collaborative Divorce or Cooperative Divorce process fails, then the parties still have the option to have the outstanding issues in their case resolved by the court through traditional divorce methods. 

‍Collaborative Divorce, as compared to Cooperative Divorce, tends to have a higher likelihood of success, because the parties and attorneys are incentivized to avoid litigation.  If the Collaborative Divorce process fails and litigation becomes necessary, the attorneys will have to leave the case.  This reduces the chance that the attorneys will use litigation as a threat or negotiating tool.  More importantly, if the Collaborative Divorce Process fails, the parties will have to hire new attorneys who will start their representation from scratch and will not be permitted to use the work product of the previous attorneys.  Each party will also have to hire new experienceds, who may be duplicating the work of previously hired neutral experienceds.  The parties, therefore, are less likely to walk away from the negotiating table because of the additional expense of starting the traditional divorce process from the beginning with new attorneys and experienceds. 

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