COLLABORATIVE FAMILY LAW SPECIALTY
In addition to the traditional fields of civil and criminal law, personal injury, estate planning and probate, business law and real estate, Magnuson Lowell, PS offers a new and exciting approach in the family law field: collaborative law. Collaborative family law is a non-litigation approach to resolving marital issues (such as dissolution of marriage, support, custody and other related marital subjects), whereby both attorneys and their respective clients engage in an uninhibited and open dialogue with each other, along with specialists (such as family or financial advisors), to develop a settlement that both husband and wife can embrace.
The primary work done by the qualified collaborative family law attorneys is to enable the parties to reach agreement on the terms of a final settlement without resorting to litigation. Agreements reached in the process are client-driven, with the attorneys playing a supportive role to ensure that such agreements are what the parties want, rather than what the attorneys recommend or suggest. Prior to reaching final agreement the parties will be knowledgeable of the law that covers their respective rights and obligations. However, experience demonstrates that a final agreement worked out directly between the parties is more effective, more lasting and more important to the spouses and their family than getting what the law may dictate.
The advantages to a collaborative process are numerous, including the following:
1. Total fees and costs are often less for each party than in the traditional litigation approach, even after factoring in the cost of engaging specialists to act in advisory roles. This is usually the result of fees and costs that are avoided in costly litigation.
2. The parties essentially determine the outcome of their dispute, with their respective attorneys guiding the process and working to ensure that the final settlement meets the client's stated interests without disrupting the settlement process. In this process the client takes charge, rather than the attorney, so that the client feels his/her true interests are being represented. The results are (1) a final settlement that is tailored to meet the needs of the parties, (2) a client who is more knowledgeable of the provisions of a divorce settlement, and (3) a client who is more prepared to address and resolve post-dissolution issues without resort to his/her attorney.
3. The dissolution concludes with a final agreement that the client has confidence will meet his/her best interests and those of the family, without remorse over the attorney's role, and without adverse emotional effects that are normally encountered in the traditional litigation model (where a court makes a final award that typically is not tailored to meet the needs of the parties, or a mediator recommends a settlement which the parties feel is forced upon them to avoid trial). This is especially important when children are involved, as an agreed settlement will work wonders in creating a healthy post-dissolution environment between the parents and their children, an environment that may easily deteriorate in the litigation process.
Should the collaborative law process break down to the effect that litigation must be commenced to conclude the dissolution, both attorneys and all advisors must withdraw, and the clients will then be referred to new counsel. Although this rarely happens when both parties are represented by collaborative attorneys, it is likely that agreement will have been reached by the parties on many issues, and this will reduce the amount of litigation that may ensue.
In the event that both parties cannot work on a collaborative basis (for example, one of the attorneys representing a party does not have the background of or the desire to practice collaborative law or use collaborative law techniques), your collaborative attorney at Magnuson Lowell, PS can continue to represent you, but on a "cooperative" basis. Although the strict guidelines for practicing collaborative family law are not observed, your attorney will use all of the skills and tools he has developed in practicing collaborative law to steer the parties toward resolving issues by agreement (rather than through the court system), hopefully achieving the same result as if the true collaborative law method were utilized. Should the "cooperative" process break down whereby the other party insists upon going to court to obtain a desired result, your attorney will continue to represent you, utilizing his litigation skills to ensure that your interests are protected.
