Patricia Baca

Attorney at Law

5155 Wichita Street
Fort Worth TX 76119

(817) 535-2859

Email pbaca@justice.com

(Please do not send confidential information via email.  I do not give legal advice by email.)

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What is collaborative law?

• Collaborative Law is a voluntary, dispute-resolution process that works outside the courtroom but inside the legal system to settle civil cases.

• Each attorney remains an advocate for his/her client’s interests but also commits to working for an optimum settlement.

• Collaborative Law is not for everyone in a legal conflict, but its cooperative strategy is for clients and their attorneys committed to negotiating settlements in private with honesty, dignity and fairness.

• Collaborative Law requires a non-adversarial attitude dedicated to settling issues without the emotional turmoil of a trial or other public court hearings.

• Collaborative Law requires specially trained lawyers,  and, as needed communication and financial specialists and other professionals to enable divorcing couples or other family adversaries to settle their differences without destroying their ongoing needs for meaningful relationships.

• In this professional process, the disputing parties, their attorneys and the neutral professional advisers engage in face-to-face discussions in a safe setting – outside the courtroom – to resolve all issues.

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Why should I consider retaining a Collaborative Lawyer?

There are many possible reasons, especially for cases involving children, including these considerations:

• The Collaborative Law process provides more value than litigation in that all your money is spent towards solving your problems; rather than on legal wrangling.

• The Collaborative Way produces substantially less fear, bitterness, hate and anxiety than courtroom proceedings or the threat of such litigation.

• Mutual decisions can be reached quickly.

• You don’t spend months awaiting a court date.

• You and the other disputing party control the proceedings. You’re an instrumental part of the settlement process.

• You control your and your family’s destiny. The judge or jury does not.

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What approach is used to work on settlements?

• First, the parties and their attorneys sit down together and determine if the collaborative approach is best.
• If the parties and attorneys consent, they sign a written agreement to proceed in a Collaborative manner.
• The parties and their attorneys also discuss whether they need other professionals, such as accountants or family counselors to facilitate the process.
• Collaborative parties, lawyers and advisers sit around a table and discuss the issues and seek ways to reach agreements.
• The disputing parties are involved in making decisions at each stage of the process, including when they meet, the agenda for each meeting, and whether other professionals are needed.

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How can I be sure that full disclosure has been made?

• Just as in litigation, there can be no guarantees that the other party will fully comply; however, there are certain safeguards in the Collaborative Law process that promote compliance.

• Under the Collaborative Agreement, the attorneys agree to withdraw if their clients do not cooperate with the full disclosure process.

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If the parties reach agreement, what's next?

• One of the parties' lawyers drafts legal documents reflecting the agreements.
• The parties and their attorneys read and approve these documents.
• The documents are then submitted to the court for approval, usually without any court hearing.

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What happens if settlement is not reached?

• Because the parties go to the table with such a high level of commitment, most cases end in a successful agreement.
• In the rare instance when the parties cannot reach settlement with the help of their Collaborative lawyers, they may consider alternative ways to resolve their arguments, such as mediation, more neutral experts, or arbitration.
• If they’re still not able to settle, then their Collaborative lawyers withdraw, and the parties obtain new attorneys to prepare the matter for trial.

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Why do the attorneys withdraw if the process fails?

• It’s a fundamental element of Collaborative Law. The cost and inconvenience of hiring new attorneys and going to court provide huge incentives for the parties to stay with the process and reach an agreement. The process rarely fails.
• The parties must choose, from the beginning, that they want the attorneys to make this commitment.  If  you do not want your attorney to withdraw if the process fails, the attorney will still accept your case and can still use his or her skills to settle the case.  The case will not be a “Collaborative Law” case in this event. If that commitment is made in writing then it must be followed.

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Is Collaborative Law the best choice for me?

    Quite possibly. It’s worth considering if any of these conditions apply to you:

• You want a civilized, respectful, fair resolution of the issues.
• You want to protect your children from the mental or emotional trauma that often explodes and lingers with litigated divorce, child custody and other legal disputes between parents.
• You value privacy in personal affairs. You don’t want details of your marriage’s breakup or family’s assets, finances and/or restructuring in public court records. This is an out-of-court, completely private process, except for the agreed-upon court documents and final court approval.
• With children involved, you and your partner want to be co-parenting after the divorce. You want the best relationship possible.
• You want to maintain the possibility of friendship with your ex-partner.
• You don’t want a judge and/or jury deciding how to restructure your financial and/or co-parenting arrangements.
• You recognize the limited range of outcomes available in the court system and want more creative, individualized options for resolving the family issues.
• You understand that conflict resolution with integrity involves achieving not only your own goals but also the reasonable goals of the other partner and the family.

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How do I get started?

If you think Collaborative Law may work for your family dispute, these are the steps to take:

• Talk with your spouse or other family adversary about Collaborative Law.
• Each of you then selects his/her own attorney trained in Collaborative Law.
• Each party meets first with his/her own attorney to discuss the options.
• All parties and attorneys meet to determine how to proceed collaboratively.
• If they proceed, all parties and attorneys sign the agreements and the guidelines of the Collaborative Law process.
• Please note that the Collaborative Way is used in other cases where relationships and/or privacy are important to the parties – such as probate law, partnership dissolution, intellectual property and employment disputes.

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Is Collaborative Law less expensive?

• Collaborative Law provides the client with more value for the money spent, but it may or may not be less expensive.
• In the litigation process, money is spent on winning a court battle. Once the battle is won or lost, the litigant can only go home with the proceeds that he or she was awarded in court, after expenses.
• In Collaborative Law, the focus is on complete solutions to the clients’ problems, and expenses are focused in that direction. The clients should exit the completed process with communication and financial tools to help them rebuild their lives.
• If expert advisers are needed, money can be saved by the parties hiring one joint expert instead of each party hiring his/her own expert to prove a case in court.  For example, it may be expensive to pay the up-front costs of a financial adviser; however, one is less costly than two. And that money is spent to help the family, not simply to build a court case. The same can be true for mental health service providers, counselors, appraisers and other financial experts.
• Financial and mental health experts are part of a team trying to find the best solution.  They are not part of a the litigation process trying to prove the other side wrong.
• As with any Family Law matter, time involved – and therefore, the cost – depends on the parties’ cooperation, as well as the complexity of the issues. Collaborative parties have more control over the time factor than parties in a court case and can avoid the time-consuming court appearances and reams of paperwork of most litigated cases.
  
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