Trusting a spouse once divorce is on the table can be difficult. Most people have heard horror stories about individuals lying to their spouses about cooperating, only to surprise them with a lawyer at the last minute.
Attempts at manipulation during a divorce can lead to highly unfair outcomes. Many people are nervous about working with a spouse for that exact reason. Collaborative divorce helps take some of the risk out of agreeing to work cooperatively with a spouse.
How does collaborative divorce help to prevent last-minute manipulation?
Allowing for representation
When spouses informally promise to work with one another, they often do so without professional legal assistance. In a collaborative divorce, each spouse has their own attorney. They have someone to educate them about state law and to push for their best interests during divorce negotiations. If challenges arise, they don’t need to scramble for an attorney at the last minute.
Backing out has consequences
If spouses have an informal agreement to cooperate, either person can violate that arrangement without penalty. In a collaborative divorce scenario, refusing to cooperate suddenly puts both spouses at the same disadvantage. They generally need to retain new legal representation and restart the entire divorce negotiation process. Both spouses face the same setback, which leaves them on even footing if the collaborative law approach fails.
Agreeing with a spouse to collaborate during divorce and signing an agreement committing to a collaborative divorce can help to protect people from high-intensity divorce scenarios and limit the likelihood of 11th-hour complications caused by one spouse acting in bad faith. Spouses who work together can move forward with a less contentious divorce with the confidence that comes from having a binding agreement for protection.
