what is civil dispute
resolution?
CIVIL DISPUTE RESOLUTION 101
Collaborative Law helps businesses, families and individuals find solutions to legal issues instead of initiating a lawsuit and going to court to resolve a legal dispute.
Including:
Pre-Nuptial Agreements
Many couples can benefit from a pre-nuptial or post-nuptial agreement that addresses their respective rights and obligations both during the marriage and at the time of death. Particularly people who are remarrying and who have children from an earlier relationship might want to protect the estate rights of their children of the first marriage. This can be a difficult topic to discuss with your fiancé or spouse, and the professionals in the association are very experiences in assisting people through these negotiations and the preparation of appropriate documents to implement whatever plan is agreed upon by the parties.
Business Disputes (Family owned businesses, Small businesses & Partnerships)
In the instance of a business dispute, each party retains a collaboratively trained attorney to advise and provide legal counsel. The parties and their collaboratively trained attorneys work closely with a hand-picked team appropriate to the specific situation, which may include a neutral financial professional with an expertise in tax and/or business valuation and/or a neutral communications facilitator who helps the parties in expressing their concerns and in being heard. The collaborative team will assist the parties in making informed decisions in a safe and confidential environment and to come to a resolution that is acceptable to the parties.
Probate and estate matters
At some point we all deal with death and sometimes there are issues as to how the estate of a loved one will be divided among the surviving family members. Determining how the assets of a loved one are going to be divide does not have to result in the end of relationships.
The Collaborative Law provides a process where family members, with the assistance of Collaborative professionals, can meet to resolve the division of an estate while taking into consideration the family members’ interests and concerns and develop solutions that look at the legal realities of their situation.
Employment disputes
Collaborative Law offers employers and employees a private, client-centered process that encourages good faith, face-to-face negotiations of employment disputes. Settlements are facilitated through structured interest-based negotiations that rely on reason rather than emotion. This helps parties identify individual interests, address mutual concerns, and develop workable practical solutions to their employment disputes.
HOW IT WORKS
Traditional methods of dealing with conflict through litigation may not be the best alternative to resolving your legal problems. Protracted litigation depletes financial resources, disrupts lives and can destroy relationships. Battling in court often results in having a judge or jury impose its decision, where often one party looses and one party wins. In the Collaborative Law process the parties can often settle their differences together with the assistance of a team of Collaborative professionals. The Collaborative Law process allows the parties to effectively utilize finances, keep issues private, preserve relationships, protect reputations and reach a resolution that meets the interests of both parties.
The Collaborative Law process encourages parties to conclude their legal, business, and personal disputes with less conflict and without court intervention. The process allows the parties to make decisions in confidential meetings rather than in open court.
Work Towards an Agreement, Not Against Each Other
A goal of the Collaborative Law process is to assist disputing parties to resolve their differences and to structure an agreement that represents each party’s interests. In the Collaborative Law process it is the parties that are the decision makers and not a court, jury or a third party.
Negotiations are conducted in a series of private face to face meetings that the parties and their attorneys attend. The Collaborative Law process includes a neutral communications facilitator who help the parties communicate their interests, concerns and prospective and a neutral financial professional who assists the parties in having a clear understanding of the financial issues involved in the matter. At the first meeting the parties enter into a contract called a Participation Agreement, in which everyone agrees to fully disclosure relevant information with the goal of reaching a mutually acceptable settlement. If the parties are not able to resolve the matter through the Collaborative process, their Collaborative attorneys and all of the other involved Collaborative professionals are to withdraw from the case because the Collaborative attorney’s and Collaborative professionals roles are to settle the dispute, not to litigate. The Collaborative professionals assist the parties in breaking through impasse and reaching resolution.
THE BENEFITS OF CIVIL DISPUTE RESOLUTION
Creating a more durable agreement that addresses the needs and realities of the parties in the context of their business, family and/or personal lives.
Allowing relationships to be preserved (business, personal and family).
Reducing costs by agreeing to neutral experts (if needed) rather than each party retaining an expert to represent each of their separate interests.
Flexible scheduling that takes into consideration participant’s schedules as opposed to court appearances and hearing dates that are dictated by the court’s calendar.
Decreasing the chance of disruption to the business because it encourages ongoing constructive communication so that the business can keep running.
Protects reputations by avoiding negative publicity and maintaining privacy.
Allowing more control of the outcome and avoiding the uncertainty and risk of having the court, jury or a third party decide the outcome.
