What is a Collaborative Divorce?

What is a Collaborative Divorce?

Not all divorces are the highly contentious, bitter nightmares that you hear about. Some divorcing couples are in full agreement that their marriage is over and are both ready to move on with their lives. When a divorcing couple is able to get along during their divorce proceedings, the experience can be a smooth, easy process because the spouses are engaging in a collaborative divorce.

What Is A Collaborative Divorce?

In a collaborative divorce, the divorcing couple works together with the help of their lawyers to figure out the terms of their divorce without fighting. Collaborative divorce is a form of dispute resolution that is gaining popularity in South Carolina. During this process, the couple will work together to figure out:

  • How to split up the couple’s marital assets and debts
  • How to handle the custody of their children
  • How to handle child support.
  • If visitation is a better option, how the parents will handle child visitation
  • Whether one spouse will receive alimony and how that alimony will be paid
  • Whether the children will have grandparent visitation

These are all aspects of divorce that couples must address. If the couple is unable to work together to decide these matters for themselves, then these decisions will be left to the Family Court.

Why Is Collaborative Divorce A Good Option?

Many divorcing couples choose to work together in order to streamline their divorce through collaboration. Collaborative divorces are generally cheaper and quicker than contentious divorces, and the divorcing spouses are each considerably more likely to get the specific outcomes that they desire if they collaborate. When couples cannot agree, then decisions are left to the court system to decide, and often times neither spouse is completely satisfied with what the court decides to do.

In a collaborative divorce, the couple has an opportunity to negotiate with one another to get more of what they want out of their divorce. Furthermore, spouses engaged in this process generally try to stay out of court and focus on coming to an agreement without bringing the courts into it. While it is very unlikely that any person who is getting divorced will get everything that they want, couples in collaborative divorces generally end up more satisfied overall with the outcome because they had some control over how decisions were made.

Since each spouse is voluntarily participating and cooperating, everything can be accomplished more easily. The couple is able to be more clear on which aspects of the divorce are most important to them. For instance, the wife might desperately want to keep the marital home, while the husband might be willing to give the wife the marital home in exchange for their vacation home and one of the cars they own jointly. When the divorcing couple is more willing to work together, the outcome can be better for everyone involved.

Need Help With A Collaborative Divorce?

This process is a great option for couples who are able to work together through their divorce. Contact the Mount Pleasant, SC family law attorneys at Klok Law Firm, LLC if you are planning on getting divorced. Contact us today for a free consultation.