It is easy to feel like life is ending when it is time to seek a divorce. In some ways, life is ending; two people are looking to start plotting their own, separate paths. But the process does not have to make a mess of a caring relationship. Even spouses who no longer get along have opportunities to avoid a messy divorce process.
Pennsylvania is one of the latest states to adopt an approach to collaborative law as a way of resolving disputes. House Bill 1644 allows spouses in the Keystone State to choose an effective, cost-cutting and time-saving legal process to get divorced.
The process, not dissimilar from mediation, allows spouses to sit down with attorneys and hammer out an agreement for the division of assets and liabilities as well as child custody and other important issues. The agreement to engage in collaborative law also comes with the agreement to retain new legal counsel if the process fails, and spouses must go to court.
One of the main differences between collaborative law and traditional litigation is that the attorneys for both parties acknowledge their duty is to avoid having to go to court. The approach is completely voluntary, and no court can order it, which gives the participants more ownership in the process.
People looking to avoid the traditional toll of divorce may consider collaborative law now that it is part of the Pennsylvania legal canon. An attorney can advise on the applicability of collaborative law to a specific situation. To learn more, contact a collaborative law attorney at the Quinn Law Firm by calling us at 814-806-2518.
