What Is Collaborative Divorce?
This is a transcript of a podcast posted July 16, 2006.
 We’re speaking with attorney Katherine E. Stoner, whose legal practice focuses primarily on family law and mediation. We’re talking to her about her new book Divorce Without Court: A Guide to Mediation and Collaborative Divorce.
NOLO: Let’s start with the basics: What is collaborative divorce, and what’s the difference between it and divorce mediation?
KATHERINE E. STONER: Well, both are ways for divorcing couples to settle without a courtroom fight. In mediation, the spouses work with a neutral person who helps them make decisions together; they may or may not have lawyers actively participating or consulting with them.
In collaboration, the divorcing spouses hire lawyers to work with them and meet with them in what’s called “four-way meetings,” and everyone works together towards a settlement. They may also hire other professionals -- therapists, financial experts -- to help them, but they do everything collaboratively and cooperatively, and they sign an agreement that the lawyers and the other professionals have to withdraw if they don’t reach an agreement.
NOLO: Okay, the idea of divorce and collaboration seems almost like an oxymoron, so how can a couple that’s fallen out of romance, that commonly are very angry or bitter with each other, be expected to collaborate on a divorce?
KATHERINE E. STONER: Yes, that’s a good question. Actually there are lots of reasons why they might mediate or collaborate. One, and one that’s sort of a primary concern to people when they come in, is that it will save them quite a bit of money. There are statistics that show that the average contested courtroom divorce will cost $50,000 or more, if you’re in a major urban area. Collaborative divorce, even with two attorneys involved every step of the way, is going to be considerably less than that, and mediation where the lawyers may interface even less will be of course even less expensive than that.
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