Four Ways to Keep Costs Down in Your Collaborative Law Divorce

Even divorcing couples with wealth don’t want to waste it on an inefficient divorce. This is why the smarter Bryan/College Station couples that are talking about divorce are choosing collaborative law divorce. The collaborative law process offers couples privacy, control and methods to keep the total cost down.

The first step in saving money during a collaborative law divorce is to hire professionals trained by the Collaborative Law Institute of Texas. The Institute teaches how to be efficient from start to finish. I have been on cases with attorneys who had not been trained by the Institute. The result was a slow, mishandled and expensive experience for the couple. Be very careful to hire a collaboratively trained attorney. Ask about the training when you interview lawyers.

The second step is to pay attention in meetings and do what you have committed to doing. You will not be asked to do anything you cannot do. The collaborative case will go at the pace to which you agree. If you have a work deadline or family event, the case will slow down while you take care of these. But once you have committed to providing information for the case and a meeting has been scheduled to review that information, if you procrastinate and don’t finish your homework on time, the cost goes up a bit. When meetings have to be rescheduled, it costs money to check calendars, discuss alternative dates and process emails that communicate the rescheduling options and agreements.

The third step is to make your divorce a priority. If you can do this, the process will go faster and more efficiently.  Ask to see the meeting agenda a few days ahead. Show up for all the meetings on time and prepared. Provide information when you say you will – try not to be late. Follow up to be sure your information was received.

In my experience, collaborative law divorce is usually significantly quicker and less expensive than traditional litigated divorce. You can reap even more savings when you follow these three steps during your collaborative law divorce.

I have worked on about 100 collaborative law divorces. If you would like my advice on which attorneys to interview, feel free to contact me at stewart@texasdivorcecpa.com.