Family

Claire Trundley, Head of our Family Team, is a trained and experienced Collaborative Law practitioner. Her firm but empathetic approach will ensure that the collaborative process is well managed to a satisfactory outcome for you and your ex-spouse. Claire is a member of the Bedfordshire Collaborative Law Pod.

So, what is collaborative law?

Collaborative law is a way of obtaining a divorce in a fair and amicable way.

Each person appoints their own solicitor but instead of letters and phone calls between solicitors, you meet together to work things out face to face. Your solicitors attend meetings with you so that you have legal advice on hand throughout the process.

The aim of collaborative law is to resolve family disputes without going to Court.

How does the collaborative process work?

First face to face meeting is arranged by your Collaborative Solicitor. This is known as a four way meeting (you and your solicitor meeting with your ex-spouse and their solicitor.)

At the first four way meeting you will be asked to sign an agreement - you are agreeing to and confirming that you understand that you will try to reach an amicable settlement.

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 training 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 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 solicitors 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 home needs to be sold.

How long does the collaborative process take?

One of the benefits of collaborative process is that it’s not driven by a timetable imposed by the court. So to a large extent the process can be built around your family’s individual timetable and priorities.

For more information on the collaborative law process please visit:  www.bedscollaborativelaw.co.uk