It is natural for parents in Colorado going through a divorce to experience a bevy of emotions, some positive, some negative. Despite their personal feelings, however, they may want to make sure their children weather the divorce process as best as possible. Pursuing a collaborative divorce is one-way parents can help their child during the divorce process and beyond.
When it comes to child custody, collaborative divorce could set the stage for successful co-parenting. In a collaborative divorce, the parties will work together along with their attorneys with the aim of achieving a settlement that both parties agree with. This cooperation can also demonstrate to the couple's children that even though they are getting a divorce, they will still work together to raise the children.
A collaborative divorce could also help parents work cooperatively once the divorce is finalized. Because it is non-adversarial, it can help parents stop fighting. This benefits the child, as it has been shown that when a child's parents fight, this affects the child in a negative way. In a collaborative divorce, parents can establish a child custody schedule that works for both of them, meeting the child's needs as well.
Also, since the collaborative divorce process resulted in a child custody plan that both parents worked on as a team, this could lead to parents not having so many negative feelings post-divorce. This is important, as parents should not fight or bad-mouth each other around their child.
In addition, the child custody schedule established through the collaborative divorce process will address how custody exchanges will be handled. Because both parents had a say in how they'd like to handle child custody exchanges, they may be more likely to follow through on the agreed-upon custody exchange process. When parents are consistent with regards to child custody exchanges, this could provide the child with a sense of stability post-divorce.
As this shows, when parents develop a child custody schedule using collaborative law, it can benefit both them and their child. Parents may be more satisfied with the outcome of the collaborative divorce process than they would be if they litigated their divorce since they had a say in the decision-making process and worked cooperatively with their ex to reach an agreeable settlement. This, in turn, could make it easier for parents to cooperate in raising their child together, even though their marriage did not last.
Source: The Huffington Post, "7 Secrets For A Child-Centered Divorce," Bari Zell Weinberger, Esq., Feb. 24, 2017
Tags: Collaborative Law
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