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All of our members have extensive ongoing training and years of Collaborative practice experience.

Each party has an attorney to advise him or her on legal issues. Attorney-client relationships are confidential and privileged, just as they are in the litigation model, but that is where the similarity ends. 

On the litigation model, the attorney tries to convince a judge to give the client what they want at all costs. This makes the focus on everything they hate about each other. Often long-term co-parenting relationships are damaged by the litigation process.

In the Collaborative model, the attorneys work with the client to work cooperatively using a Collaborative team approach. The goals become focused on meeting future financial needs; to have well-adjusted children who get the best from each parent; and to be able to move forward with their lives with dignity, in a way that causes as little disruption and trauma as possible for everyone in the family.

The Atlanta Collaborative Divorce Alliance has psychologists, Clinical Social Workers, and Licensed Professional Counselors who are trained to work on collaborative family law cases. These mental health professional are not engaged to provide psychotherapy, but serve a variety of roles, depending on the clients' needs:

• DIVORCE COACH: Each party will have a divorce coach. The coach will assist the client in making sound decisions by helping the client manage their various emotions during a very stressful time. T%he clients and their divorce coaches will work together to craft a parenting plan.The parenting plan will cover topics such as parenting time, holiday schedules, vacations, decision-making, conflict resolution, etc.The divorce coach will educate the parties o resolving communication difficulties. The coaches are always looking out for the long-term interests of the various members of the divorcing family.

• CHILD SPECIALIST: When children are involved, the child specialist assists the parents and the team in understanding the needs of the children and their response to the pending divorce. The child specialist will meet with the children and report back to the team and the parents about how the children are adjusting, what special needs they have, and if they need any special assistance to move forward with the transition of their family.

Neutral financial professional such as Certified Financial Planners (CFP), Charter Financial Consultant (ChFC), Certified Divorce Financial Advisors (CDFA), and Certified Public Accounts (CPA), help the parties organize and wok with financial information during their collaborative divorce. They help gather organize, identify, understand and analyze financial information relevant to their property division. Qualified financial neutrals can provide specialized financial and tax advice concerning the impact of legal decisions on each party's current and future financial condition. ACDA financial professionals are compensated strickly on a fee-for-service basis, too their compensation for their involvement in the collaborative process cannot be tied to the sale of investment products, investment advice or commissions.

If you and your spouse or partner are willing to commit to settling your dispute WITHOUT court intervention, are willing to give full, honest and open disclosure of all information, are willing to engage in informal discussions and conferences to settle all issues and willing to work to protect the privacy, respect, and dignity of all involved, then Collaborative Law is the right choice. Any of the members of The Atlanta Collaborative Divorce Alliance will be able to give you more information.