Ending a relationship of any kind can be challenging, but ending a marriage can be especially physically, emotionally, and financially stressful. Unfortunately, divorce is a reality for about 40 to 50 percent of married couples in the United States. While navigating the process can be challenging for some, many couples are able to dissolve the marriage without a great deal of distress.
If you are committed to be amicable, you have the option for a collaborative divorce with the help of attorneys who still have their client’s needs at heart. With this guide, you will learn a few real benefits of a collaborative divorce.
Reduced Costs and Time
Money is a common problem in many marriages, and it continues to be an issue during the divorce process, as well. Many factors affect the cost of a divorce, including your specific attorney and marital assets. However, disagreements and battles over finances, custody, and other issues with the marriage/divorce can become one of the biggest factors that increase the cost of your divorce.
With the help of your attorney, you and your spouse can work through any disagreements without the need of litigation. This decreases the amount of time you need to spend in court, which reduces the overall cost of your divorce.
The exact cost will depend on your specific case, but many experts believe a collaborative divorce can save thousands of dollars compared to a traditional divorce.
Since less time in court is needed, collaborative divorces are also beneficial for couples who want to divorce efficiently. If you and your spouse have been separated for a long period of time or you or the other spouse is ready to move on with another relationship, a collaborative divorce will reduce the time it takes to end your current marriage.
Decreased Emotional Distress
Again, ending a relationship, especially a marital relationship, is not meant to be easy. If you and your spouse cannot come to terms with the end of the marriage or you are struggling to agree to terms involving your finances or child custody agreements, many arguments may arise.
The disagreements can lead to feelings of anger, jealousy, or even sadness. Some individuals will even act out on these emotions, posting negative things on social media, bad-mouthing their spouse to others, or even using their children or money as a way to hurt the other spouse. By acting out on these emotions, the divorce process will not only be more emotionally traumatic, but also more timely and expensive.
With a collaborative divorce, you and your spouse will work with your own attorney to design a divorce agreement that works for each person’s individual needs. This can reduce the sadness, anger, anxiety, and overall stress of dissolving the marriage.
Enhanced Privacy
With a traditional divorce, the litigation process is made a public record by the courts, although you can get these records sealed in some cases. For example, if children are involved or if potential false allegations have been made, you can request to have the records sealed. Unfortunately, public records are readily available for most divorce cases.
In a collaborative divorce, you and your spouse will come to agreements without court proceedings and without an excessive amount of personal information being made available to the public. To finalize a collaborative divorce, some contact with the courts will be necessary, though. Your actual divorce will be on public record, but any negotiations/settlements will not be.
A collaborative divorce can be an affordable, efficient, less emotionally stressful, and more private option, especially when compared to traditional divorces. For more information on collaborative divorce, contact The Law Office of Travis Van Winkle today.