Divorce Does Not Have to be Difficult
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While divorce is a difficult time in a person’s life, the process of divorce does not have to be difficult.
That is, if you have a good support team, from friends to your family law professionals. Having support from an understanding network can make all the difference in how the process goes, and how it feels.
This is why I love practicing Collaborative Divorce so much.
In Collaborative Divorce, a couple builds a team of collaboratively-trained professionals to move them through their divorce. This includes two Collaborative Divorce attorneys plus a financial neutral, a divorce coach and sometimes other professionals who can assist with the process. Each professional has taken the Introductory Training Course, at a minimum, to be able to practice in this legal forum.
There will be an Introductory Training in May hosted by the Collaborative Practice Institute of Michigan. I’d love to see more of my colleagues in the legal realm join us! Find all details here.
This team of professionals helps couples get through emotional, legal and logistical details. Financial experts, in addition to the financial neutral, can help settle questions related to a business one partner may own, or retirement assets, or properties they own together, including mortgage and refinancing details.
Regardless of who wants the divorce, emotions will be at a heightened state at some point during the process, if not the entire time. That’s why it’s so helpful to include divorce coaches who are licensed therapists as part of the “team” guiding people through the process.
No matter how you look at it, it’s a difficult decision to leave a marriage. Once you do, hopefully you start to feel better, and then the process doesn’t have to be difficult with the right people around you.
Even when a client wants a Collaborative Divorce, but their spouse does not (both must agree to use this process), I rely on the tools, principles and perspectives I’ve learned in my Collaborative Divorce training. So even if I support a client through Litigation or Mediation, they’re benefiting from these powerful, supportive approaches.
And, when I work with clients, I will usually recommend bringing in a financial expert or divorce coach to weigh in on their situation. It helps the divorce process go more smoothly for them and leads the client to a better, healthier outcome.
Like I said, divorce doesn’t have to be difficult. And when you retain control over all the decisions in your breakup, which the Collaborative Divorce process guarantees, you’ll most likely be happier in the end. Isn’t that the goal, after all?