#Collaborative process - Alternatives to court - Resolution - first for family law
Collaborative law PODs
All collaboratively trained lawyers join a local practice group called a POD . This group will meet up around once a month together with collaboratively trained members of other professions to discuss practice issues. Meeting in this way helps lawyers and other professionals to work more effectively together on collaborative cases.
What is the collaborative process?
Under the collaborative process, each person appoints their own collaboratively trained lawyer and you and your respective lawyers all meet together to work things out face to face. Both of you will have your lawyer by your side throughout the process and so you will have their support and legal advice as you go.
You and your lawyers sign an agreement that commits you to trying to resolve the issues without going to court and prevents them from representing you in court if the collaborative process breaks down. That means all are absolutely committed to finding the best solutions by agreement, rather than through court proceedings.
Find out more about the collaborative process by watching our short film below and reading our collaborative information leaflet
Collaborative Law in Practice
How does the collaborative process work?
You ve both met with your respective lawyers, discussed the different options and processes available and decided that the collaborative process is for you. What can you expect to happen next?
- You will both meet individually with your separate lawyers to talk about what to expect in the collaborative meetings which are usually referred to as four way meetings as they are meetings between the four of you - you and your partner and your respective lawyers. You and your lawyer will discuss what you both need to do in order to prepare for the first four way meeting.
- Your lawyer and your partner s lawyer will speak to each other either face to face or over the phone in order to plan for your first meeting.
The first four way meeting:
- At the first four way meeting the lawyers will make sure that you both understand that you are making a commitment to working out an agreement without going to court and you will all four sign an agreement to this effect.
- You and your partner will be invited to share your own objectives in choosing this process and you will all plan the agenda for the next meeting. This will depend on your own individual circumstances but might typically include a discussion about how the children are responding to the separation.
- If time permits you may also go on to discuss how financial information will be shared and agree on who will bring what financial information to the next meeting.
Subsequent four way meetings:
- Subsequent meetings will deal with you and your partner s particular priorities and concerns. You might, for instance, look at involving other professionals such as specialists in pensions and financial planning or people trained to assist children in understanding and coping with the changes that your divorce or separation will bring to their lives. The meetings will enable you to reach agreement on how the finances will be shared or what arrangements need to be made for any children.
The final meeting:
- In the final meeting documents detailing the agreements you have reached will be signed and your lawyers will talk you through anything else that needs to be done in order to implement those agreements. Sometimes a firm timetable for implementation will not be possible, for instance, if the family house needs to be sold.
How long does the collaborative process take?