In a Collaborative Practice agreement, the desires of the parties participating in the negotiations are ascertained prior to the first combined meeting with their lawyers and with each other at the time of the early stages of the joint negotiation meetings.
It is quite common for parties to have the same wishes and goals, which are usually recorded on a whiteboard and which are visible throughout the negotiating process. James Noble Law is an expert firm in Australia that can help to prepare your Legitimate Collaborative Practise Agreement. The wishes and goals for the Collaborative Practice Agreement normally are:
Consult Collaborative professionals Collaborative professionals and family lawyers have extensive training and continuous training to work together and with their clients to reach an agreement that is fair and reasonable to all concerned. Collaborative professionals are trained to listen deeply to the clients’ entire story on their first meeting with the client prior to any negotiations taking place to gain a clear understanding of the wishes, goals, and emotional issues that are involved in the client’s life. The client in the first meeting will receive an education about the negotiating process involved in collaborative practice, which will empower the client to participate actively and effectively in the negotiation that will take place in the later joint meeting. Collaborative professionals assist their clients to achieve their highest intentions for themselves and their children in the post-divorce restricted family environment. Collaborative lawyers have an effective working relationship with each other. They work on a common basis to achieve the best results for their clients. Collaborative practice provides creative problem-solving that is not available or exists in mediation or litigation. The collaborative lawyers work together to assist the clients to reach a resolution that best meets the needs of the clients. All discussions, information sharing, option development, and negotiation take place in face-to-face meetings with the clients. The role of the collaborative professionals is to act as guardians for these negotiations and in the management of conflict. Collaborative professionals work effectively with their clients to offer the best possible circumstances in which to carry out negotiations in good faith in an interest-based respectful manner, mutually beneficial, and accepted the outcome. Family consultants and financial consultants can be involved in collaborative negotiation. The family consultants maintain a highly focused communication process during the negotiation process. They endeavor to reduce the stress levels during the meetings and assist the parties to clarify the issues involved. The family consultants have been trained in anger management skills which help the parties move as effectively as possible through the process. They provide balanced, non-judgemental, non-evaluative information about the children’s needs, with the aim of developing parenting plans for the children. They have a very comprehensive role in assisting the parties in reaching a resolution. The financial consultant assists the parties to clearly identify their property and financial issues, incomes, and expenses, and effectively document such matters for the collaborative lawyers to use in the negotiation process. They can assist the parties with any budgeting concerns. They assist in identifying the financial issues that need to be addressed. They assist in the settlement process by analyzing taxation issues and in projecting long term financial consequences of various settlement options, which may be put forward during the negotiation process. Here you can Download A-Z Collaborative Law Ebook. The team approach of lawyers and consultants significantly reduces the costs of conducting the negotiations. The team approach streamlines negotiations and provides long-lasting ‘value-added’ resolutions. It enables the parties to negotiate educated resolutions of the issues involved. The team approach enables the parties to reach respectful, efficient, lasting, mutually workable solutions to financial and parenting issues. It assists the parties as parents to provide effective co-parenting of their children in the future. Article Source - Wishes and goals for the Collaborative Practice Agreement
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We want to separate. Where do we go from here?
It’s very important to do negotiation, collaborative practice, and mediation before separation. Many couples who separate can agree on what they wish to happen in relation to a distribution of their assets and if there are children, the arrangements which they wish to make and put in place for the children’s future. When couples are in agreement, the options for formalizing the property settlement and arrangements for the children are:
Negotiating an agreement. Around the kitchen table. In your negotiations with your partner in regard to property issues and children, it would be beneficial to seek legal advice from a solicitor who specializes in Family Law so that you are empowered and have knowledge of what is achievable in reaching a settlement. Once you are empowered with this knowledge, are you able to sit around the kitchen table and negotiate directly with your partner to resolve such issues? If you can resolve such matters, then the agreement can be formalized in the manner which I have mentioned. Your legal adviser can assist you in drafting the necessary documents to formalize any agreement reached. Why Do Collaborative practice? If you have no knowledge about Collaborative practice, please read this article on What is Collaborative Practice Agreement and what are its goals and wishes? Do you require assistance to negotiate these matters with your partner? If you have a fairly good relationship with your partner, then the most effective means of assisting you in such negotiations is a new form of family law practice, which is Collaborative Practice or Collaborative Law. For Collaborative Practice to be successful, the solicitors engaged must be trained in this form of dispute resolution, a different mindset to the normal practice of Family Law. The collaborative lawyers are trained to work together with both you and your partner to reach an amicable settlement that you can both live with and which best suits your needs. Collaborative Practice is a popular dispute resolution method developed in the United States in the early 1990s. It gained rapid popularity in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Canada and is now a practice available to help people in Australia. Benefits of collaborative practice.
The collaborative practice may be suitable for you and your partner if both of you:
Even when there has been family violence in your relationship, a collaborative practice approach may still be available. Your collaborative lawyer will assist you to determine whether this practice is available in such circumstances and if it could still be effective. Collaborative Practice allows other collaborative trained professionals such as psychologists and financial advisers (accountants) to be involved in the process. Financial advisers can be engaged where financial assistance is required, not only to assess the assets and their values, especially when there are companies and trusts but also to advise if any of the resolutions reached are a viable resolution financially and if resolutions would be more tax-effective and more suitable. The collaborative approach would enable you and your partner to resolve issues respectfully so that you can arrive at dignified solutions to your dispute with your partner and maintain a sound relationship with each other in the future, especially if long-term financial interests are involved and also to assist in your future involvement with your children. The practice emphasizes reaching an agreement rather than having to battle it out in Court. You and your partner and your lawyers will work together to share information in a series of meetings. They will be involved in the full process and none of the decisions will take place outside your full knowledge. Collaborative practice is different from going to Court. It involves meetings between yourself, your partner, and involving your lawyers. Everyone works together towards a common goal resolving the dispute with emphasis on retaining your dignity and best interests. You will have your collaborative lawyer advising and assisting you throughout your negotiations. The playing field will be more even between you and your partner because you and your partner will have your respective lawyers to support you as well as other professionals if necessary and with your consent. If an agreement is reached in these collaborative meetings, then the agreement can be formalized in the manner I have described above. What if collaborative practice is not suitable for you? Are there other means available? Mediation Mediation is another form of alternative dispute negotiation which may be suitable for you. Again, it is a voluntary process. However, the Family Court may order mediation if you do instigate proceedings in the Court. Normally, in mediation, you are represented by your own lawyers. The difficulty with mediation is that you will have one version of the dispute and your partner may have a different version to your own. The Mediator is only there to assist you in negotiation. The difficulty is in bringing together the two opposing views given to your respective lawyers. The mediator’s role is to assist with communication between yourself and your partner so that you may have open discussions in negotiating a settlement. The mediator’s aim is to facilitate open discussions and communications between you and your partner so that you can identify the issues of the dispute, generate options to address such issues, and hopefully agree upon ways to resolve the issues and reach a settlement. The mediator’s role is essentially a neutral one. The mediator will not take sides. The mediator will work with both you and your partner to help you negotiate your own decisions together and will not represent either of you in Court before or after mediation. Both Collaborative Practice and mediation can be dealt with quickly, and because of this, the costs are limited. If these forms of alternative dispute resolution are not successful or are unavailable or cannot be agreed upon, then the only solution is litigation in the Family Court. Most matters in the Family Court are dealt with in the Federal Circuit Court. This is part of the Family Court in Australia. The more difficult issues are dealt with by judges in the Family Court. Proceedings in the Family Court should be avoided if at all possible. It is emotionally and financially draining to be involved in such a process. It can take years for a matter to resolve in the Courts. The Court can order reports which would involve the children also being interviewed by a report writer. If all else fails, this is the final process to help you to resolve the issues arising from a separation. If you are embarking on this process, it is very important that you seek legal advice. Financial support Financial support until financial issues and children’s issues are resolved. This would occur where a party has not had the financial control of the resources of the relationship, has not been in employment, and has mainly been involved in the parenting and household roles and may not have the financial means to support himself or herself if a separation should occur. Visit Article Source For more Information - Collaborative practice before separation |
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