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Collaborative Divorce (Part 5/5): Why Have I Never Heard of Collaborative Divorce? – Youngblood Law, PLLC
Collaborative Divorce (Part 5/5): Why Have I Never Heard of Collaborative Divorce?
Paul Youngblood October 7, 2017
In recent weeks we have discussed the collaborative divorce process. If you missed the previous installments in this series, you can find them here, here , here and here. At Youngblood Law, we are excited about offering the collaborative divorce process to our clients, but if collaborative divorce is so awesome, then why have so many people never heard of it? Here are the top three reasons why we believe the collaborative divorce method isn’t the primary method of divorce yet.
The collaborative divorce process began conceptually in the 1980s, but Texas was the first state in the Union to establish a statutory scheme for collaborative divorce. Texas enacted our collaborative divorce statute in 2001, so the collaborative process is still an infant. However, like infants, a tremendous amount of growth occurs in a short time. In Texas, the statue is well thought-out and allows collaborative professionals to develop new systems to further improve the process. The collaborative divorce process doesn’t have 200+ years of court rulings behind it like normal divorces, and that is a good thing because what it does have is innovation.
It May Cost Your Lawyer Money
Did you know that the average divorce in Texas costs over $15,000.00 and takes over a year? While many divorces are finished well below that amount, there are many that cost $50,000-$80,000. A three day final trial may cost $20,000 or more per side—this on top of the rest of the hearings and other activities that transpired during the proceedings all of which cost money. By working a collaborative divorce, a lawyer is foreclosing the possibility of earning potentially thousands of dollars because all of the expensive courthouse proceedings are not part of the collaborative process. Collaborative divorce isn’t inexpensive, but the money spent is used to make a win/win plan for the future rather than paying lawyers to fight about the past in court
The Lawyers Have Risk
The lawyers who take on a collaborative divorce sign a document that prevents them from ever representing the parties if the collaborative divorce breaks down and regular litigation ensues. The vast majority of collaborative divorces settle in weeks rather than months or years, but occasionally, the collaborative process breaks down when one or both parties simply cannot work together toward a win/win agreement. When that happens, the lawyers that have represented the clients up to that point, are out. They are not allowed to represent the clients in litigation. Period. Many lawyers refuse to work collaborative divorces because if the process falls apart, they lose the money they would make in expensive litigation.
CategoryCollaborative Divorce
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