What The Collaborative Family Law Process Is
The Collaborative Law Process is an option, that is recognized and respected by the State of Maryland, that legal consumers have where each person has their own Certified Collabortive
Law attorney from the beginning where each party and their attorney sign a pledge that they will make a good-faith effort to engage in this
Collaborative Process instead of going to Court, or threatening to go to Court.   The parties are
not giving up their right to Litigate if they choose to do so at any time.
The Collaborative Process involves the couple and their attorneys having a series of 4-way meetings to identify and creatively resolve the things
that are most important for their family.
Each party has their own
Maryland Certified Collaborative Attorney
advocating for them with the parties choosing to Settle their case based on what they and their respective
attorneys conclude may be a possible probable result if the case went to Trial, after working together to resolve the case,
while avoiding the public Litigation Sytem and the risk, cost, stress, and loss of privacy that
are inherently involved in it
Litigation can be acrimonious and contentious where you risk Losing Control of the process and the costs, and
Litigation usually costs much more than
Collaboratively resolving the case.
Collaborative Resolution can also allow the parties to be in control of the Time the process takes, rather than becoming subjected to the rigid dictates of the Court.
One of the ways the money and time can be saved is that the parties sign Releases for information of records
saving time and money on the cost of having subpoenas issued.   This way both parties can be assured
they are getting accurate information before making a decision.
In the Collaborative Law Process, processing emotion is part of the process in a way that may enable the parties to keep whatever is
left of their relationship as intact as possible, where they can amicably Separate and Co-Parent their children as
they move forward with their new reorganization of their families.
In the Collaborative Law Process each person has their own attorney to advise and protect them, but their attorneys have also agreed with them that the highest purpose of this Process is to come to a written Agreement among themselves rather than having a Court decide, and the Collaborative
Lawyers help keep things from getting derailed from this track.
The Collaborative Law Process is different from Mediation.   In Mediation there is one Mediator and that person helps you work through
the issues but is not advising you or advocating for you.   The Mediator is just there to help you identify the
issues and work through them.
People will often consult with their own attorneys during the Mediation process, but those attorneys are not usually
involved in the Mediation process itself, whereas in the Collaborative Law Process, the Collaborative Law attorneys are there with you all along, right there,
every step of the way.
Another benefit of the Collaborative Law Process is the Privacy aspect, as the Collaborative Law process enables the parties to keep
the details of their lives out of the Public Court system.
The Collaborative Law Process is also different from the Arbitration Process.
 
If the parties cannot Settle their case through the Collaborative Law process, they will both be free to each retain
a new attorney to represent them in Court.   As with Mediation and Settlement Discussions, Nothing that was said in the Collaborative Law process may be repeated
in Court.