Financial specialists help with collaborative divorce

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An aspirational goal of the collaborative family law process, among others, is to assist couples in achieving the end of a marriage in a way that minimizes negative economic, social and emotional consequences. In order to provide divorcing couples with the best opportunity to achieve that goal, a team of professionals works together in assisting couples to navigate the process. The expertise each professional has to offer provides a means for enabling education, transition and strategies to engage in resolution-oriented dynamics.

Because of the teamwork aspect that the collaborative process utilizes, family law attorneys have faced numerous paradigm shifts from their traditional practice of law. Sometimes it is abundantly clear how uncomfortable attorneys are in attempting to make these shifts, but the result of effectively doing so is invaluable to clients.

The challenges lawyers face in working with financial specialists fall in the areas of how attorneys “learn their case,” how options are brought to the table for discussion and how the discussion of options occurs.

So what’s the big deal? Why should lawyers work with financial specialists when they, themselves, are clearly capable of gathering information, educating their clients and developing resolutions?

The “big deal” is that financial specialists offer neutrality to clients that lawyers cannot.

Neutrality is where there is no advocacy. All thoughts and ideas are heard and accepted for consideration. There is no judging and there is no advice given. It is what gives clients a voice in expressing their financial anxieties and well as their goals without the fear of facing an advocated position. Even within the collaborative process, clients many times have expressed to me in initial consultations that they have some level of fear that their spouse’s attorney will somehow hurt them.

The power of neutrality is especially effective in the beginning of a case. By allowing a couple to first have the opportunity to express themselves, be heard and understood, as well as work together in gathering information and being responsible for their participation in the process, I have observed that people are more likely to develop trust in the process and are better enabled to take the steps they need to reach resolutions.

Neutrality is further relied upon in discussions throughout the process in which the financial specialist assists bringing both voices to the table in discussing issues and developing resolution options with respective interests and goals in mind. Simply having the neutral professional at the table makes a great difference in how couples and team members engage in what are many times difficult conversations.

Attorney Kathleen Baird, an experienced collaborative family law attorney and mediator, describes best practice protocols for lawyers working with financial specialists in her article published in the Summer, 2007 issue of “Perspectives,” the Collaborative Family Law Council of Wisconsin’s newsletter. She suggests that:

The financial specialist review financial disclosures with the parties and attorneys in a five-way meeting in order to avoid costly duplication of work.

Develop agreements with the financial specialist on the timing of tasks to be completed and how and when work product or information is to be shared.

Pre-brief to plan client meetings. Debrief meetings that have involved financial issues and provide feedback regarding difficult client or team dynamics.

Provide the financial specialist with a copy of the proposed settlement agreement to review and comment.

The collaborative process is not for everyone — whether a husband or wife or a professional. From both perspectives, it is important that there be a willingness to work as team from start to finish. There needs to be a commitment to engage in collaborative dynamics which evolve to a level of trust that outcomes will meet the needs and goals of the parties involved.

Effective communication, including team agreements as to work assignments, client feedback and constructive meeting debriefings, is critical to the process.

Every professional who participates in a family law matter has an impact on the clients they work with and how they move forward with their lives. Divorce is the result of people experiencing profound hurt and disappointment in their marriages. To end their marriage with a team of professionals that can help them work through emotional and financial entanglements enables them to function better and create a vision for a hopeful future.

Gaylene A. Stingl is a senior manager with Suby, Von Haden & Associates, S.C. in Brookfield, and she was the 2006 chair of the Collaborative Family Law Council of Wisconsin. She can be reached at [email protected].