In Texas, a collaborative divorce follows a different process than other divorces, even though the same laws apply. If you and your spouse are committed to staying out of court and working together to negotiate fair terms—willing to collaborate and compromise—you may be good candidates for this approach.
A collaborative divorce offers many benefits and can lead to a smoother, more amicable resolution. If this is the situation you find yourself in, an experienced Round Rock collaborative divorce lawyer is standing by to help.
Think Before You Act
Divorce is a challenging legal matter, and it’s a process rather than a singular event. Divorce is also unpredictable, but collaborative divorce requires dedication on the part of both spouses. If you’re not both in it for the long haul, it’s not going to work, and if that’s the case, you’ll need to start over from the beginning, which includes hiring new legal counsel for each of you.
The collaborative divorce process has much to recommend, but before you sign on, it’s important to take careful stock of your situation. If you can honestly say that each of the following applies to your case, you’re well-situated to pursue a collaborative divorce:
You and your divorcing spouse are each capable of addressing your divorce like adults.
You and your divorcing spouse are each deeply committed to keeping your divorce out of court.
You and your divorcing spouse are each capable of compromise.
Neither you nor your divorcing spouse is bent on antagonizing the other or is more interested in causing problems than in getting down to business.
You and your divorcing spouse retain the ability to communicate clearly with one another – even if that means sticking to communicating in written form.
You and your divorcing spouse are not driven to distraction by your anger towards one another.
You and your divorcing spouse are each capable of addressing the matter of your divorce fairly.
If none of these stand out as red flags, you can likely reap the benefits of collaborative divorce.
Financial Fidelity
Financial fidelity is an issue that deserves its own focus. For a collaborative divorce to work, you’ll need to trust your spouse to be open and honest regarding your marital finances, and this is all the more important if they have had a lot more involvement with them than you have.
Protecting Your Financial Future
Your divorce will directly impact your financial future, and you want to be sure that you have an accurate assessment of what you’re working with before you begin the collaborative process.
Financial professionals, such as valuation experts and forensic accountants, can participate in the collaborative divorce process. However, they serve in a neutral role, which means they don’t represent either spouse’s side.
In other words, you’ll need to trust your spouse’s integrity in this arena for a collaborative divorce to work for you. If you have any niggling doubts on this count, address the matter with your trusted Round Rock collaborative divorce attorney, who will help you make the right decisions for you in your unique case.
If Your Spouse Is Cheating on You
If your spouse is having an affair, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the collaborative divorce process won’t work for you. Yes, they’re cheating on you, but having an affair doesn’t translate to attempting to cheat you out of something. A spouse who is not above financial wrongdoing isn’t a good candidate for collaborative divorce.
The More You Know About Your Marital Assets, the Better
The collaborative divorce model is distinct from the litigation model, which employs a range of discovery tools that are designed to ensure the playing field is level when it comes to financial documentation.
Even with these tools – such as interrogatories, depositions, and requests for disclosure, production, or admission – parties to traditional divorce often need to hire financial experts to back their positions up, due to a serious lack of trust that one has regarding the other, which is often for good reason. This makes the litigation model that much more cumbersome.
The collaborative approach doesn’t follow this path. Instead, each side shares the financial information they have with the other, which helps set the stage for productive negotiations during the collaboration process.
The more you know about your marital assets, the fewer issues there are standing between you and a successful collaborative process. The peace of mind that comes from knowing the ins and outs of your family’s assets and financial circumstances is the perfect backdrop for a collaborative divorce.
If this isn’t the case in your situation, it isn’t a deal breaker, but if you are the keeper of the financial keys in your marriage, you are very well-positioned to proceed with a collaborative divorce.
Collaborative Divorce Is a Private Process
If you are invested in keeping the details of your divorce private, a collaborative divorce is a great option. The meetings held during the collaborative process are private, which means that the information discussed will remain private. Court records, on the other hand, are public information.
You Are Not Interested in Allowing a Complete Stranger to Make Primary Decisions on Your Behalf
The primary reason that divorcing couples would almost universally prefer to keep their cases out of court is because – as adults who make all their own decisions – they don’t want to hand their decision-making authority over to a complete stranger in a judge’s robe.
Doing so can feel like a real shock to the system, and ultimately, the judge has only so much time to spend on, and so much attention to pay to the unique circumstances of the case at hand, which means the terms that couples walk away with can be a real departure from anything either spouse considers even close to fair.
If you are not interested in handing over your authority to make primary decisions that will directly affect your parental and financial rights – as well as your future – collaborative divorce is an excellent alternative.
In the process, however, you’re going to need to dig deep in terms of negotiating fairly, being willing to compromise, and having the follow-through necessary to resolve each of the divorce terms that remain undetermined in your case.
The Collaborative Divorce Process
The collaborative divorce process, as mentioned, requires a solid commitment from both spouses. To begin, you and your divorcing spouse are required to execute a Participation Agreement, which outlines what is expected of each of you during the process and signifies that you are both prepared to work within these expectations.
Your Collaborative Divorce Attorneys
You will need your own collaborative divorce lawyer – who has specific experience in this area of divorce law – and your spouse will need their own. Yes, the idea is to collaborate with one another, but you won’t be doing so without skilled legal representation backing you up.
Your respective attorneys will each be working squarely on the side of each of your best interests, which means you can count on your compassionate Round Rock collaborative divorce lawyer to focus solely on supporting you throughout the process.
The Path Forward
During the collaborative divorce process, there will be a series of meetings that are set up as problem-solving sessions to arrive at terms that work for you and your spouse. There can be a team of professionals at the collaborative divorce tables, including finance pros and professionals in the field of child development.
They will serve in a neutral role, however – rather than on the side of either spouse. Your seasoned collaborative divorce attorney is there to help you navigate the process.
While the goal is collaboration, this does not translate to turning your back on your rights as a means of demonstrating what a good sport you are. Protecting your rights is key in a collaborative divorce – just as it is in any other divorce – and your focused Round Rock divorce lawyer is there to help ensure that your rights don’t get lost in the shuffle.
If Your Efforts to Collaborate Fail
If you and your divorcing spouse are unable to successfully resolve each of the divorce terms that are being addressed in the collaborative divorce process, you’ll need to start over. This generally means going directly to court, but a very important point to keep in mind is that you’ll need to hire another divorce attorney before you do.
Your collaborative divorce lawyer cannot represent you moving forward, which is part of the balance that’s built into the collaborative process.
When this is the case, the benefits of the collaborative divorce process are lost, and you’ll have nothing to show for the process that you put so much effort into other than the additional cost and investment of time. This is why taking a personal inventory of how well-suited your case is to the collaborative divorce process is so important before you sign on.
The Terms Addressed in a Texas Collaborative Divorce
In your collaborative divorce, you can address any of the divorce terms that apply to your case and that remain unresolved.
The Division of Marital Property
The division of marital property is a primary term in every divorce, and in Texas, those assets that you and your spouse came to own while you were married must be divided between you fairly upon divorce. In the collaborative divorce process, you’ll be expected to freely share financial information with one another, which is foundational to robust negotiations.
For a collaborative divorce to be effective, you’ll need to trust your spouse to be on the up and up with you regarding financial matters. If you or your savvy divorce attorney gets the sense that your soon-to-be ex may not be as trustworthy in this department as you’d hoped, your lawyer will likely advise you not to pursue a collaborative divorce.
Effective collaborations are built on trust, and when it’s missing, the results can be far from satisfying.
Child Custody Arrangements
If you and your divorcing spouse share minor children, the matter of child custody is another primary term. Texas addresses both physical custody – or parenting time – and legal custody, which establishes how you and your ex will make all the big-picture parenting decisions moving forward.
Custody determinations in Texas are always based on the involved children’s best interests, and this boils down to both parents remaining involved in the children’s lives and working together to be effective co-parents.
As such, you and your ex can expect to each spend a considerable number of overnights with your children, but one of you may take on the primary custodial role. Further, you’re likely to keep making major decisions on behalf of your children together, but one of you may have the authority to break a tie if it comes to that.
Child Support
In Texas, child support is calculated according to careful guidelines that generally require the parent who earns more to take on the child support obligation – even when parenting time is divided evenly. Only when the circumstances support it will Texas courts award child support that deviates from the standard calculation method.
Alimony
Alimony – or spousal maintenance – is only awarded when the divorce leaves the recipient unable to cover their own reasonable needs while the spouse making the payments has the means to do so. Texas is exacting when it comes to alimony orders, and it’s the exception rather than the rule. When applicable, however, it can be a critical source of income for the recipient.
You Need an Experienced Round Rock Collaborative Divorce Attorney in Your Corner
Brett Pritchard at The Law Office of Brett H. Pritchard is a resourceful Round Rock collaborative divorce lawyer with a wealth of experience guiding challenging cases like yours effectively and efficiently through the collaborative divorce process while protecting his clients’ rights. Learn more by contacting or calling us at 254-781-4222 and scheduling a free consultation today.