Collaboration for Family Law

If you are looking for an alternative approach to resolving the issues arising from your separation, which minimises conflict and the impact on your children, then collaboration could be a great choice.

You and your ex-partner will be at the forefront of the decision making and able to create a bespoke settlement which works for you and your family.

Your solicitor and your ex-partner’s solicitor will need to be collaboratively trained to engage this process and only experienced family law solicitors are able to undertake the training.

Your solicitor will need to assess your case as suitable for collaboration. The assessment will look at your ability to take responsibility for the decisions, your emotional commitment to achieving the best possible outcome, your relationship with your ex-partner including your ability to see things from their point of view, the level of trust between you and your ability to prioritise the needs of your children. If either you or your ex-partner have had issues with drug or alcohol abuse, mental illness or there has been physical, verbal or mental abuse, then this will impact on the suitability of your case for collaboration.

Going Ahead with Collaboration

If you go ahead with collaboration, then one of the first things that will happen is the signing of a contract called a Participation Agreement. The collaborative solicitors, you and your ex-partner all sign this and your solicitor should go through this with you. The contract commits you and your ex-partner to avoiding going to court. If the collaboration fails, then neither of the collaborative solicitors can represent their client in any subsequent court action. You commit to being honest, co-operative, acting with integrity and agree to common goals such as focusing on the future well-being of your family, including yours and your ex-partner’s and resolving your differences equitably and justly.

What takes place in the collaborative process is confidential, with the exception of any financial information or if there is suspected abuse of any child or a criminal offence under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

In signing the Participation Agreement you commit to not using threats of court action to force a settlement. You agree to negotiate in good faith, take a reasoned view in disputes, protect the privacy, respect and dignity of all involved and to make no significant changes to your financial circumstances unless agreed.

You agree to prioritise the children’s best interests and promote a caring, loving and involved relationship between the children and you and your ex-partner.

The collaborative process involves much less communication between the solicitors about the issues to be covered than in traditional negotiation. Your solicitor still represents you and works in your best interests but rather than engaging in correspondence with the other solicitor, the solicitors will only speak in order to agree agendas in advance of Four-Way Meetings which everyone attends, to agree the date, time and location of the Four-Way Meetings and which of them will take the Minutes of the Four-Way Meeting.

The Four-way Meetings attended by you, your ex-partner and the collaborative solicitors are the forum within which all the issues are discussed together. In advance of these Four-Way Meetings, you and your solicitor will meet at Two-Way Meetings. During these Two-Way Meetings you will agree on what issues need to be included in the agenda for the Four-way meeting and you will receive legal advice from your solicitor. After each Four-way Meeting the Minutes will then be shared with everyone involved.

The Benefits of The Collaborative Process

One of the benefits of the collaborative process is that other collaboratively trained professionals can be involved. This might be a Financial Neutral who can provide both you and your ex-partner with financial advice or a Family Consultant who will provide you with emotional support. If involving these other professionals would benefit you, your solicitor will discuss this with you and you will cover this in a Four-Way Meeting.

Once the Participation Agreement has been signed, the next step is to identify what is important to you and your ex-partner. Any information that is needed will be discussed and an agreement reached on how that will be obtained. Any urgent or short term issues will be covered. The information gathered will be exchanged and discussed in both the Two-Way Meetings and further Four-way Meetings arranged. The possible solutions will be discussed both with your collaborative solicitor and together. Plans will be made to implement agreements reached.

Once workable plans have been agreed, a Minute of Agreement is drawn up setting these out. This is the legally binding document you and your ex-partner will both sign.

Collaboration vs Traditional Litigation in a Divorce or Separation in Scotland

When compared to traditional litigation, choosing collaboration to resolve the issues arising from your separation has been shown to:

• minimise the impact on the children
• reduce confrontation
• increase your control over the issues
• allows you to be better heard
• reduces costs
• reduces the risk of a decision being made you are unhappy about
• increases flexibility
• takes less time
• preserves privacy and
• creates better outcomes after the divorce.

Our Head of Department and Director Judith Higson and Senior Associate Director Nicola Buchanan are both Accredited Family Law Specialists, Accredited Mediators and Collaboratively Trained Solicitors. We have a wealth of experience spanning  several decades to meet all of your family law needs and are ably assisted by our Associate Solicitor, Claire Thomas, Assistant Solicitor, Laura Cousins, and Paralegals, Liz Semple and Carly Russell.

The content of this article is for information only and is not intended to be construed as legal advice and should not be treated as a substitute for specific advice. Scullion LAW accepts no responsibility for the content of any third party website to which this article refers.