This post is from Curtis Harrison, a collaboratively trained family law attorney working for the law firm of Albin | Harrison | Roach in Plano, Texas. He is board certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and serves on the Board of Trustees for the Collaborative Law Institute of Texas.
Last week, a group of collaboratively-trained lawyers, financial neutrals and mental health professionals from around the state gathered together in San Antonio for the purpose of discussing some of the fears and challenges that divorcing couples face. The gathering was part of the annual Advanced Family Law Conference at the Marriott Rivercenter, which is one of the largest continuing education conferences in the nation.
Kris Algert, the current president of the Collaborative Law Institute of Texas, kicked off the luncheon, which focused on fostering a round-table discussion among the professionals. CLI-TX Board Member Jennifer Tull led the discussion and selected a compelling topic: Rights versus Results.
Those facing divorce almost invariably want to know what their rights are. Who will get the children? How much child support can be expected? Who is responsible for the credit card debt? What happens to the house? To the 401(k)? The list of questions can go on and on. Yet the core of all such questions is not really a fear over rights, but rather, fear of an unknown result. This distinction highlights one of the many advantages of the collaborative method of resolving family law issues: Spouses, rather than judges, become the decision-makers.
This is a novel approach, but it is also supremely intuitive. After all, who better to make decisions regarding a divorcing couple’s children and their finances than the spouses themselves? Even through the pain and the other negative emotions that accompany a divorce, divorcing couples can still make better choices for themselves and their children than a judge or jury can. This is where the professional team comes in – helping guide the couple through an otherwise overwhelming process. And when spouses ask about their rights, the trained collaborative team of lawyers and neutrals are there to restore the focus to achieving a result that both spouses find acceptable and in their children’s best interests.
