Collaborative Divorce

A different way to end a marriage.

Open double doors with detailed floral and landscape design etched or painted on glass panels.
Open double doors with detailed floral and landscape design etched or painted on glass panels.

Collaborative divorce isn't a softer process — it's a more disciplined one. But make no mistake, collaborative divorce is kinder. It is smarter. And, it is efficient. The Collaborative Divorce Process leaves you with the best chance to survive the dissolution of a marriage with your family, your finances, and your future intact. Simply put, divorce does not have to mean a courtroom, a fight over every asset, bitterness, and years of acrimonious hearings only to be followed by still more years spent rebuilding what that process destroyed.

Collaborative divorce is a structured alternative — both spouses, each represented by their own specially trained attorney, commit in writing to resolve every issue outside of litigation. No motions, no discovery battles, no judge deciding what your family looks like next. Just a defined process, built around transparency and good-faith negotiation, that ends with an agreement both people helped shape.

How the process works:

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    01.

    Both spouses and their attorneys sign a Participation Agreement committing to resolve the matter without going to court.

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    02.

    Financial disclosure is full, voluntary, and transparent from the outset.

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    03.

    Highly trained, neutral professionals (financial specialists, child specialists, divorce coaches) are brought in as needed.

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    04.

    Structured meetings address custody, support, and asset division one issue at a time, at a pace the family can manage.

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    05.

    If either spouse later chooses litigation, both collaborative attorneys must withdraw — a built-in incentive for everyone to stay at the table and negotiate in good faith, earnestly, and honestly.

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Who this is right for:

Collaborative divorce works best for every spouse and family facing the devastation of divorce, no matter how or why they got there. If a married couple loves their children, their family, and their future more than they presently hate each other or the circumstances surrounding matrimonial disharmony, they can divorce with dignity and heal. The more complex or tangled the finances or family issues, the more the collaborative divorce process fits.

Led by Managing Partner Kristi Gavalier Brown, our Collaborative Divorce practice is built on a simple belief: the two people who built a loving life together can still make intentional and compassionate decisions about how that life changes.

Meet The Browns
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Frequently Asked Questions

  • Four things matter most to the families we work with: privacy, control, predictability, and a foundation for the years ahead.

  • Yes. Collaborative divorce doesn't require an amicable relationship; it requires a willingness from both spouses to negotiate honestly and in good faith. Some of the families best served by this process are the ones in real conflict, because a structured, transparent process protects them from the damage an adversarial court fight would otherwise engender.

  • The collaborative process is built to work through disagreement, not avoid it. If, despite that, either spouse ultimately decides to litigate, both collaborative attorneys must withdraw from the case and representation, and each spouse retains entirely new counsel for litigation.

  • Timelines vary based on the complexity of the finances and custody arrangements involved, but most collaborative cases resolve faster than comparable litigated divorces because there's no waiting on court dockets, no discovery disputes, and no motions practice. Families move at their pace and have much more control over the duration of the process.

  • Generally, yes. Because the process avoids the costliness of litigation — discovery, court filings, and motions practice — and because neutral professionals are shared rather than retained separately by each side, collaborative divorce is typically more cost-predictable than a litigated divorce.

  • Collaborative divorce is especially well suited to families with children. The process includes the option to bring in a neutral child specialist, and every part of the process — from how information is shared to how decisions are made — is designed to model the kind of cooperative co-parenting the family will need long after the case concludes.

  • Collaborative divorce requires both spouses to opt in voluntarily. If your spouse declines, litigation may be the only available path forward, and our firm's Litigation division, led by Gregory Brown, handles that work as well, with the same attention, care, and zeal that he brings to other litigation matters.

  • Yes. Each spouse retains their own attorney, trained in the collaborative process, who advocates solely for that spouse's interests throughout. Having independent counsel is what allows both people to negotiate from a place of genuine, informed choice.