Rockville Collaborative Divorce & Family Law Attorney

Maryland Domestic Partners Lawyer

Not everyone who wants a divorce wants to hurt his or her spouse. Not every parent wants to separate the other parent from the children. Not every separating couple wants to rely on the legal system to help them resolve their situation. In fact, there is a growing movement among family law practitioners that says couples who can collaborate should. As divorce becomes more common and litigation more costly, more and more couples choose this option.

Good candidates for collaborative practice are couples who can discuss issues rationally with one another. The bonus is that there is no public record of the details of the experience and no airing of "dirty laundry."

Attorney Bruce Avery is a founding member of the Maryland Collaborative Practice Council, is past-president of Collaborative Dispute Resolution Professionals, Inc, a Montgomery County collaborative practice group, and is a founding member of the Collaborative Practice Training Institute.

If you are interested in pursuing a collaborative solution for your family law dispute, call us at 301-576-0950 or toll free at 1-866-919-9723, or contact us online.

Collaborative Divorce and Family Law

Unmarried domestic partners face the same set of complications as their married counterparts. The only difference is that there is no legal system in place to tell them how to work out the details of their separation.

However, since agreements reached through collaborative law are formed outside of the legal system, the fact that you aren't legally married will not prevent you from coming to a mutually agreeable settlement for your separation.

At Avery & Upton, we frequently represent nontraditional families including unwed cohabiting partners and parents, as well as gay and lesbian couples.

What Happens in a Collaborative Divorce/Separation?

The essence of collaborative law is that each participant decides at the beginning of the case to sign a contract agreeing to a few basic principles:

• Cooperation — they agree not to push the case into adversarial litigation
• Dignity — they agree to respect each other's highest priorities and work toward a settlement that both find agreeable
• Honesty — they agree not to withhold information from each other and to comply fully with any request for documents

After this agreement has been signed, the parties work together under the advice of their lawyers, financial specialists, coaches and child specialists. Through a series of discussions, the couple works through issues like property distribution, child and spousal support, and child custody and visitation rights.

Since agreements in collaborative law are reached without the oversight of the courts, couples have the freedom to use greater creativity in creating a settlement agreement that works for them both.

To learn more, you can schedule an appointment at Avery & Upton by calling us at 301-576-0950 or toll free at 1-866-919-9723. You can also contact our offices online to discuss collaborative divorce and family law.