Chicago Divorce Attorney Blog

What Happens when a Cooperative Divorce Law Case Goes to Court?

No matter which approach you use in your divorce, it is not always possible to persuade your soon-to-be ex to agree a divorce settlement that is acceptable to you.

If this occurs in the cooperative divorce law model, the attorneys are permitted to accompany their clients into the court system and litigate on their behalf.
(This is prohibited in collaborative divorce where, if settlement attempts fail, the parties must replace the collaborative lawyers and hire new lawyers to take their case to court.)

Typically, when a cooperative divorce moves into the court system, the parties are still likely to experience a less costly and less stressful divorce than they would have experienced had they started their divorce by going directly into litigation as most people do.

This is because their prior agreement to cooperate tends to carry over into the court system. It tones down the normal anger and friction of divorce. The parties leave the cooperative process with less resentment, less distrust, and with a much better understanding of divorce and of how it works.

Being cooperative at the outset gives them the opportunity to vent their feelings. and this enhances their chances of reaching a compromise. Rather than seeing their divorce as a winner take all proposition, they now comprehend the mutually beneficial aspects of meeting one another half way.

They appreciate the wisdom of attacking their problem together, rather than spending their energy, time, and money attacking one another.

What Do the Lawyers Do Differently in Cooperative Divorce Law

Just as the divorcing parties make a commitment to help themselves, the lawyers also commit to help the parties to maintain a spirit of cooperation and sensibility.

In order to do this, cooperative divorce lawyers encourage their clients to enter into a Cooperative Divorce Law Participation Agreement in which they formally state their mutual commitment to work toward reaching a non-court resolution.

Both parties promise to take the high road and negotiate with respect and civility. They commit to act in ways that are geared to save them time, frustration, and money. See Addendum to Participation Agreement.

The lawyers also agree to promote positive conflict resolution solutions rather than allowing any further discord between the parties to develop or fester. The lawyers demonstrate appropriate role modeling to minimize the predictable angry and emotional outbursts that divorcing parties are invariably prone to display.

The lawyers attempt to narrow the issues, encourage prompt and individualized discovery, and to do what they can to help their client maintain an open mind toward compromise.

Cooperative divorce lawyers agree to treat their client's soon-to-be ex in a non-confrontational, non-threatening and non-accusatory fashion at all times.

The lawyers' job is to the clear the way for the parties to be able to negotiate with one another without being stymied by communication land mines or by the various other obstacles to settlement.

Cooperative divorce law - our newest non-court approach to divorce - provides a myriad of benefits.

It creates and maintains a non-confrontational climate that helps the soon-to-be ex spouses communicate in ways that minimize the stress and uncertainty of divorce.

It gives the parties positive guidance in reducing conflict, so they can move toward reaching a mutually acceptable settlement as opposed to having to go to court.

By staying out of court, the spouses are able to maintain their financial and personal privacy. Contrary to what normally occurs in the court system, they do not run the same risk of having their affairs become a matter of public record.

Cooperative divorce law keeps children in mind. It supports healthy co-parenting and helps the children to adjust to the changes they will undergo.

The cooperative approach focuses on the parties' concerns and emotions, and thus enables them to discuss their grievances in a positive and healthy manner. This, of course, gets the emotional debris out of the way and facilitates practical problem solving.

Cooperative divorce law also prevents the escalation of conflict and gives the parties control over the cost, length, and outcome of their divorce. When the parties are able to co-author their financial futures, the probability of future problems become minimal and finality becomes possible.

What is Cooperative Divorce Law?

Cooperative divorce does not have an exact definition. Historically, it is a term that we would apply to situations where divorcing parties settled their differences amicably and without a court fight.

Today, it seems to stand for two different settlement-oriented, non-court approaches to divorce. Some people use the term loosely to describe any no-fight divorce that the parties obtain by using either of the two more popular dispute resolution alternatives: mediation and collaborative law.

The other use of the term stands for a distinctively different and merging dispute resolution model -cooperative divorce law - which is well on its way toward joining ranks with mediation and collaborative law as the third, non-court way to divorce.

The new and mostly unannounced cooperative divorce law movement has indeed begun and is showing steady growth throughout the United States. Mediation and collaborative law are wonderful alternatives to our adversarial system of divorce. They legitimately save thousands of people incalculable amounts of pain and money, but they are not for everyone. It is believed that cooperative divorce law can and will fill this gap.

The rapid growth of mediation and collaborative law establishes that there is great public demand for less confrontational and less costly ways to divorce. Cooperative divorce law holds part of the answer and it may just show itself to be the future of divorce.

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.