experience of collaborative law

Has anyone done their whole divorce financial settlement using collaborative law?
How long did it take and cost?

Going through it now.....

Commenced October last year and think we are 90% there, problem is loan from one of our parents and no-one wants to pay it back.....now we have a "three-some" with parents solicitors involved but think we can find a way through the mess - as amicably as possible.

Costs about £225.00 per hour and I guess I've spent about £1,000.00 over the past ten months, so hopefully less than £2,000.00 each should tie it all up.

Hope the above assists.


Sailor77

Thanks sailor77 - good to hear from someone who's done it The costs are great news. Do solicitors sit in on all sessions and have you used a neutral IFA to advise you?

hi maggie what is collaborative law, i really dont understand the term, thanks, dave

I think the idea is to avoid the court route - you all get around the table - husband wife a solicitor each and with a neutral IFA to advise on pensions insurance - mortgages etc - to talk your way through to an agreement - if you can't then the court route is still open [with different solicitors I think] it looks like it's an option with a lot to recommend it- there's still solicitors costs and I don't know how much you can get on with it/talk amongst yourselves for a while -for free- and then get back round the table with the legals and input from the IFA - who has to be fee based - not commission based - and is specially trained for divorce situations.
I hated the court route - the FDR was a nightmare.
But this is collaborative - working together - it's no good if you want to kill each other? It might work if you can still talk to each other.

maggie

I am sure you are right about changing solicitors. I would love to use this route and I have a collaborative sol who has explained it to me. Trouble is if even just one thing can't be settled and you need to go to court, everyone has to get a different sol. It's the stick to make you keep going!

I think you have to be feeling pretty confident everyone's playing with a straight bat..suspect my stbx may not be!

finding

Although collaborative law arrived here a bit later than England & Wales it seems to be cottoning on fast. It appears to suit the Scottish system which favours certainty to encourage pre-court settlement. Apparently it isn't always quicker or cheaper than the conventional way of negotiating through solicitors but people like it because they feel it does the least damage to long term family relationships and it's possible to involve other professionals not just IFAs but counsellors or accountants if and when appropriate.

Recently the collaborative law group in Scotland held a seminar with Christina McGhee, the presenter of Channel 4's How to Divorce Without Screwing up your Kids as a run up to parenting class pilots. The suggestion is by developing a culture for lawyers to be more aware of the emotional impacts of divorce it will help lawyers become more effective, their clients will divorce with integrity and there will be higher customer satisfaction. Christina McGhee sees lawyers as the "gateway" for parents to access classes as a tool and attendance will become a matter of course.