Buyer Beware
Not long ago we received an inquiry from a person seeking information about divorce and collaborative practice in Wisconsin. She had already contacted an attorney and while asking the attorney about her options, the response, among other things, included the statement “sure, we do collaborative.”
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Financial Literacy During Divorce
Financial Literacy refers to the skills and knowledge that allow an individual to make informed and effective decisions through their understanding of finances.
It affects all ages and all socioeconomic levels. Divorcing couples with different levels of financial literacy can present challenges throughout the divorce process.
Debra Melvin, MBA, CDFA
Tis the Season: Managing Holidays and Parent Separation
Separation and divorce are often stressful for parents, and learning how to adjust to new routines and traditions can be especially challenging. Further, parents commonly struggle to figure out how to share their children’s time between households; the emotions tied to many family holidays can make difficult decisions even harder.
-Casey Holtz, PhD
When Is Collaborative Divorce “Appropriate?”
Recently we encountered this statement on a law firm website (not members of CFLCW):
“While …[trained]… in Collaborative Divorce ..[we use] this approach when requested, and we caution…not all cases benefit from this [approach].”
It is the responsibility of the collaborative attorney to provide information to clients about the range of process options available to them…. -News Editor
Read moreAdvantage – Team Collaborative
A common question that arrives in the mailbox of this website is “how much does collaborative cost?” It is likely that the writer of the email presumes that, as an alternative to the traditional litigation process, collaborative has to be less expensive. Few things are that definitive and the answer we routinely provide is “it depends.”-News Editor
Read moreDivorce is a legal thing; or maybe not
Search for “emotional aspects of divorce’ on the latest edition of the world’s encyclopedia – Google – and you will quickly see about 152 million results.
Yet it is fair to suggest that most people consider divorce to be primarily a legal “thing.” -News Editor
When Experts Matter
A recent survey regarding attitudes regarding taxes and tax preparation revealed that a majority of households – 56% actually – relied upon another person or firm to prepare their taxes. This is not surprising given how few of us want to deal with the US Tax Code, a document now consisting of over 73,900 pages according to a national tax reporting service.
-News Editor
Over the back fence
In this extraordinary time of social distancing – of relatively short duration, we hope – it may seem out of place to discuss the place many people exchange information about their lives. -News Editor
Neighbors have chatted over the back fence for decades about everything from life and death, taxes and politics, religion and families, and of course, divorce. (Social media may have replaced some of that interaction, but not all.)
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Collaborative Divorce or Mediation?
In recent years, some Wisconsin attorneys have expanded their practices to include divorce mediation services. When a lawyer mediates a divorce, the lawyer can give legal information to the couple, but not legal advice. For some couples, legal information is 95% of what they need. Once they understand what the laws say, they feel comfortable working out their issues with the help of a mediator, but without getting legal advice. That’s important, because the mediator has to be neutral between the two of them.
-Rebecca Oettinger, PhD, JD
Welcome to the New Collaborative Divorce Website
Welcome to a new and improved Collaborative Divorce Wisconsin website!
The members of the Collaborative Family Law Council of Wisconsin, Inc. (CFLCW) developed this website and provide services to Wisconsin families. The pages here are designed to summarize how the Collaborative Process works, what makes Collaborative Divorce an effective approach, and how the professionals that make up your team are dedicated to helping you and your family.
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