Collaborative Law Institute Blog – Family Law Attorneys & Professionals
How to Turn a Divorce Process into a Healing Process
How do you turn a divorce process into a healing process? By envisioning your highest goals for what you want to accomplish during the divorce and after the divorce has ended. This is what happens in a Collaborative Divorce process. Unlike the traditional divorce...
Is It Harder for a Same-Sex Couple to Divorce?
A recent article, “For gay couples, divorce comes with extra costs” describes the difficulties some people have faced in getting a same-sex divorce. Some of the difficulties identified have been addressed in Minnesota’s recent same-sex civil marriage...
Getting the Best Outcome in a Divorce: Lawyer Up or Settle Down?
You are getting ready to tell your spouse about your divorce; Should you get an attorney? On the one hand, you want to be protected. Going through divorce without an attorney can feel like entering a foreign country without a guide. During this difficult process it...
When is a Divorce Action Commenced in Minnesota?
I recently met with a man (I’ll call him John) whose wife wanted to divorce. He was very much against ending the marriage. He went to the office of his wife’s attorney presumably to discuss settlement, but instead received his Wife’s proposal for settlement set...
How to Tell Your Spouse about Divorce: Breaking the News Without Destroying Your Family
Once you have reached the difficult conclusion that your marriage is over, opening the door to discussing divorce with your spouse is never easy. Yet the way that you choose to talk about a possible divorce may have an enormous impact on you and your family for many...
Getting Unmarried Part II (Continued): What is a Collaborative Divorce?
The first post of “Getting Unmarried,” I talk about making the decision to get divorced. The first installment of “How to get divorced” focused on my thought process considering traditional litigation, mediation and briefly mentioning the...
Divorce is an Opportunity
The divorce process can be so difficult it is hard to imagine anything positive coming from it. However, in Collaborative Team Practice your family is surrounded by professionals who understand the complications of relationships, the emotional distress of divorce and...
The Two Words Not to Use With Children During Divorce
As a Neutral Child Specialist, I often meet with parents who have not yet told their children about their decision to get divorced or unmarried. I encourage parents to create a We Statement that helps children understand what is going to happen without putting them...
Top 5 Divorce Myths and Their Impact
The myths and misunderstandings about divorce could make you act in ways that would hurt you in your divorce. Here are some of the most common myths and how actions based on those myths could impact the final divorce terms. 1. LEAVE THE HOUSE, YOU LOSE IT. A home...
Getting Unmarried Part II: How To Get Divorced
In Part I of this series titled “Getting Unmarried” (my story), I wrote about making the decision to get divorced as being the most important and most difficult step for me. I will tell you that after finally deciding to end my marriage, it was as if the weight of...
