The
Collaborative Divorce Team Approach:
Why Do We
Care?
CDTT
promotes and advocates the Collaborative Divorce Team approach because
experience has taught us that the Team best supports the clients and
their
family with the best resources for reaching a durable agreement that is
effective for both parents and their children.
Divorce is not only a legal decree
restoring a
couple to single status. Every divorcing family has at least three
divorces:
emotional, financial, and legal. Too often, while the legal divorce is
addressed, the financial divorce is done by formula, and the emotional
divorce
is treated with a band-aid or ignored altogether. Rather than deal with
each
divorce separately, Collaborative Divorce gives family members an
integrated
approach of positive support through the transition from married to
single.
Divorce forces many changes: children face
new
circumstances and, often, very challenging situations. Family financial
stability is threatened. New parenting plans must be created, assets
and debts
allocated, and income re-distributed.
While making a multitude of complex
decisions,
parents are at a very demanding point in their own lives. They are
under
enormous stress. Many suffer from anxiety and depression. The ability
to
communicate with a spouse is at a low point. Problem solving seems a
distant
reality. In the midst of all this, people are expected to make major
decisions
that will impact the rest of their and their children’s lives.
Collaborative Divorce recognizes that
addressing
each of the various facets of a divorcing family is the healthiest
approach for
that family. Collaborative Divorce provides skilled professionals who:
- Help clients manage emotions;
- Help clients learn better communication
skills;
- Help clients set individual and
co-parenting roles;
- Provide the children with a voice in the
divorce;
- Help the parents arrive at a workable
parenting plan recognizing their children’s needs;
- Help clients understand their financial
situation;
- Help clients arrive at a financial
settlement best designed to address their future needs;
- Help clients negotiate and reach acceptable
agreements.
- Provide guidance about the legal
sufficiency of the final agreement.
Divorce
professionals know that, throughout the divorce process, clients will
inevitably
face stumbling blocks in the legal, financial, and emotional arenas.
Rather
than stigmatize a client by "calling in" professionals to “fix”
the client when thorny issues or challenging crises arise, the
Collaborative
Divorce Team approach anticipates and normalizes these stumbling
blocks. Even
in less taxing situations, clients benefit from the value added by the
expertise of their professional team.
By using a team from the outset, all of the
aspects
of the divorce are addressed throughout the process by professionals
with the
best skill and appropriate training. By working together openly and
transparently, clients can address the many complex
issues inherent in any divorce with the support and educational
advantages
offered by their team can from the beginning.