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Unique divorce practice all about the children

Collaborative practice is a unique approach to solving disputes and can be especially beneficial for children when their parents are divorcing says Michael C. Good, a registered collaborative family lawyer who works in St. Albert.

Collaborative practice is a unique approach to solving disputes and can be especially beneficial for children when their parents are divorcing says Michael C. Good, a registered collaborative family lawyer who works in St. Albert.

Good is a member of the Association of Collaborative Family Law Professionals of Alberta, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2011.

Pioneered in the late 1980s by Minneapolis family lawyer Stuart G. Webb, collaborative practice is primarily used in divorce proceedings when children, property and financial issues are negotiated privately.

With a collaborative divorce, both sides and their lawyers try to work things out through consultation and open communication.

In addition to lawyers, collaborative practice often involves mental health professionals, coaches and financial specialists.

“In collaborative practice, the two sides work together and they try to resolve the dispute by looking at and discovering each party’s interests and help them come to a solution that meets those interests,” said Good.

“The clients have to be sincere about it, they have to be able to sit in a room together with the two lawyers and sometimes other professionals,” he said.

Good said lawyers and other professionals who wish to become certified in collaborative practice must undergo 40 hours of mediation training, 30 hours of negotiation training and a 24-hour introductory course to collaborative law.

The International Academy of Collaborative Professionals estimates there are more than 4,300 professionals worldwide who have completed this training.

Sara Peacock, also a St. Albert-based lawyer, said both sides don’t necessarily have to be amicable in order for the collaborative approach to work.

“The collaborative practice model is simply another dispute resolution process. It doesn’t matter what level of conflict you’re at; you can still use this process,” she said.

“High conflict files, whether they are in collaborative practice or mediation or court litigation or whatever arena are always going to be very difficult. The difference is that with collaborative practice, even in high conflict scenarios, you aren’t tearing down, you’re building up.”

Both Good and Peacock agree that using collaborative practice is beneficial to children because often parents remain civil to one another.

“If the people have the willingness and ability to sit together and work together openly with the children at the top of their mind because generally there are children involved, it’s very beneficial,” Good said.

A family specialist is typically brought in to assist, as well as to get the input of those children involved.

“Instead of battling it out, they sit down and work with a parenting specialist who may have contact with the children so that their input is brought in,” said Peacock.

“I think for children, the preservation of relationships is the absolute biggest benefit. It allows the parents to preserve their relationship, to co-parent.”

According to the Association of Collaborative Family Law Professionals of Alberta, St. Albert has four registered collaborative family lawyers and collaborative law professionals.

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