When a family is facing a divorce, the last thing they need is a fight. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, our society has brain-washed itself into believing that if you no longer love someone romantically you have to hate them and try to hurt them emotionally and financially. People going through divorce are flooded with negative emotions and fear, and as the data from the Project on … [Read more...]
Divorce is a Tragedy, but are Some Things Worse?
People commonly think that divorce lawyers offices are filled with clients who are very flippant and just rushing to get a divorce. This may be due in part to the celebrity divorces on the covers of magazines at every grocery store check-out line and the melodramatic television shows about this subject. But I can tell you, in thirty years of practicing family law and divorce, I have never seen … [Read more...]
Why is Collaborative Divorce Information Gathering Better than Discovery in Litigation?
Courts in Texas now require that each party in a marriage complete a sworn Inventory and Appraisement, disclosing the assets and liabilities in their marital estate. Clients often wonder if information gathering in a Collaborative Divorce is as good as or better than the Discovery Process in litigation. Cost Comparisons: In the litigation process, there is often an in-depth investigation of the … [Read more...]
Learning to Manage Emotions
Learning to Manage Emotions Is Important For Every Age Collaborative Divorce Helps Family Members Learn How to Deal with Their Emotions so They Heal Rather than Have Deeper, Lifelong Wounds The following is an article that was posted by Bill Eddy's www.HighConflictInstitute.com. Bill Eddy, who is both a social worker and a lawyer, has helped thousands of people worldwide learn how to manage … [Read more...]
Utilizing Interest-Based Negotiation in Collaborative Law
There doesn't always have to be a winner and loser in legal disputes. As Camille Milner explains to LXBN TV and Texas Bar TV following her presentation at the 2013 State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting, utilizing interest-based negoation in collaborative law—where the parties focus on their interests instead of their positions—can lead to both parties getting what they want. … [Read more...]
Considerations for the “Gray Divorce”
My good friend and collaborative colleague, Tracy Stewart, CPA, recently wrote an article that was published in the Chicago Tribune about considerations in a “Gray Divorce.” More and more, those of us who handle divorce are seeing couples who are over the age of 50 seeking a divorce. They have distinct needs to their age bracket, including how to manage financially until their largest asset, often … [Read more...]
Rituals for Divorce
Unlike weddings, which are filled with extensive rituals, the ceremony of a divorce can be as simple as the client and his or her lawyer presenting a signed decree to the judge, with the entire proceeding lasting less than five minutes. Clients often have a rush of emotions at that time, including sadness and fear, even if they are the party who wants the divorce. And inevitably, clients are … [Read more...]
The Effect of Negative Emotions in Deal-Making
As family lawyers, we live our daily professional lives in a pool of client emotions, both our own clients’ emotions and their spouses’ emotions. We regularly turn to mental health professionals to help us and our clients manage those emotions. It is interesting to note, in addition to data from psychological resources, that the Harvard Program on Negotiation recognizes the negative effect that … [Read more...]
Rules of the Divorce Game
Honorée Corder is a Texan who author of a number of books, including her newest, “If Divorce is a Game, These are the Rules.” During her own divorce, she had the same experiences that most divorced or divorcing people experience, and from that experience she learned some techniques that will be helpful in some way to nearly every divorced or divorcing person out there. With insight and … [Read more...]
Counselors and Ministers Recommend Collaborative Law
...for Clients Who Need to Divorce The following blog is authored by one of our collaborative lawyer and mediator colleagues in New York, Katherine Eisold Miller. Even though she doesn’t live in Texas, she is a member of our Collaborative Law Institute of Texas. Unfortunately, too many potential clients and professionals are not familiar with collaborative law, partly because it is still a … [Read more...]
