Collaborative law in the context of a divorce is a business arrangement in which you and your spouse distribute the assets you once shared after joint disclosure and investigation in a cooperative way. Collaborative divorce relies on a couple working together, along with the experience and know-how of collaborative divorce lawyers, financial planners, and other professionals, to create a sensible agreement both spouses and their children can live with. That agreement is then entered by an Illinois court as a judgment of divorce.
When starting the collaborative law process, a couple must agree in writing not to go to court or even threaten to go to court. They also agree to cooperate, share information openly, use only neutral professionals when needed, and to make a good-faith effort to negotiate, including agreeing to attend all meetings. Most of the work of a collaborative divorce takes place in "four-way" meetings, in which both spouses and each spouse's attorney get together to arrange the details of the divorce.