You and your spouse still get along, even though you’ve decided to separate and divorce. Neither of you wants a costly divorce, nor do you want to drag it out longer than necessary.
One thing that may be helpful to you is a collaborative divorce. Collaborative divorce, like it sounds, means that you’re going to work together to come up with solutions. If you’re both working on determining spousal support, this is one great topic that you can handle through collaboration.
Spousal support is often looked at negatively because one party has to pay the other following divorce. It can be an important protection for a lesser-earning spouse or someone who supported their spouse financially for years in the past, though. If you are in a position where you need the support, collaborating to work out a fair amount or how to get what you need is a good idea.
With collaborative law, you will both still have your own attorneys and talk to your attorneys about what you want to see happen. You and your attorney will then meet with your spouse and their attorney. You’ll start a four-way meeting to negotiate. Sometimes, you can bring in other professionals, like financial experts, to help you make decisions.
Collaborative divorce is a good way to make decisions work because everyone involved can find a solution they can agree to. If you can’t agree through this process, then you will need to find new attorneys to take your case to court instead. This helps limit the chances of one spouse turning to litigation rather than trying to work together in a collaborative manner.