Angelina Jolie has started to talk about the stress of her divorce with Brad Pitt and how they are going through the process. Angelina’s goals for her family are much the same as they are with Collaborative Divorce. As reported in the Los Angeles Times, Jolie said, “We are a family, and we always will be a family, and we will get through this time and hopefully be a stronger family for it.”
Jolie and Pitt find themselves in a situation like many other families where their focus is on what’s best for the children. ‘I am coping with finding a way through to make sure that this somehow makes us stronger and closer.’
In Collaborative Divorce, the parties and their counsel/other professionals like a Financial Neutral, Divorce Coach (mental health therapist), and Child Specialist (if needed), sign agreements to preserve the privacy rights of the children and family by keeping all court documents confidential. Litigation is never an option, so the parties and their team of professionals help them craft a resolution to custody and financial issues that work best for the couple and their family. As the interview in the The Huffington Post commented, “The parents are committed to act as a united front to effectuate recovery and reunification.”
Collaborative Divorce is the only non-adversarial approach to divorce where both spouses have their own legal counsel to advise them throughout this process. Additional resources to affect a mutually agreeable resolution in the divorce settlement are utilized to expedite the process. A Financial Neutral helps gather the information so as to avoid the back and forth of corroborating the information between the two attorneys. A ‘post-divorce’ budget helps each of the parties determine how he/she will live with the new income and expenses in two family residences. A Divorce Coach works with the couple to come up with a parenting plan and facilitates communication between the couple. This is extremely important for the future health of the children and the no longer intact family.
I have seen couples go through litigation, despite their claims to work together. Not only does it get ugly with a “he said, she said” environment that litigation provokes, but the time it takes a divorce to be completed can take years and becomes incredibly costly. Wouldn’t that money be better spent providing for your children?
Filed in: The Collaborative Team
