Cooperative divorce law has officially arrived in Chicagoland.
Cooperative divorce law is a process that saves divorcing parties time, energy, and money. It follows mediation and collaborative law as our third non-court, settlement approach to divorce.
Each party commits to the cooperative approach and signs an agreement [link to cooperative law participation agreement] in which they agree to act in ways that will enhance their chances of achieving an out of court settlement.
The agreement is non-binding, but it provides the parties with a defined and structured process to help them get to where they want to go. The agreement is a roadmap of sorts.
Each party retains his or her own attorney and all four agree to meet regularly to work toward reaching a sensible settlement of the parties' differences. The focus is on saving the soon-to-be ex spouses from the unnecessary pain and expense they would likely encounter if they were to go straight to court.
There is no downside to cooperative divorce law. It creates an attitude of common sense civility and routes the parties' thinking toward a constructive solution, instead of a destructive one.
