What is Co-Parenting, and Why Would We Do It?

To me co-parenting means two parents who, though no longer together, are able to cooperate with each other in jointly parenting their children. Many separated parents seem to operate in different spheres - each is parenting during their time with the children entirely independent of the other. Ea...
January 11, 2016

Forgiveness – Do It For You

By "forgiveness", I mean letting go of anger. When you carry anger toward another person, it generally hurts you more than it does them. If the person you are angry at is an ex, then your anger probably does not even mean that much to them. They are walking around, getting on with life, and all the...
December 8, 2015

A Problem to Solve, Not a War to Win

Too often divorce is seen as a war (remember "War of the Roses"?). When we see it as a war, then "winning" becomes the primary objective. But how often does one really win in a divorce? Certainly a hard fought divorce comes with many costs -- money, time, energy, etc. Both parties emerge emotionally...
November 24, 2015

Changing the Role of the Divorce Lawyer

Collaborative process is unique in that it fundamentally changes the role of the lawyer in divorce cases. Rather than being the mouthpiece for the client, the Collaborative lawyer supports the client in speaking for him or her self in direct discussions with their spouse or significant other....
November 5, 2015
Young girl in pink jacket

Using a Child Specialist in Your Divorce

We often have a Child Specialist on the team in our Collaborative divorce cases. However, a Child Specialist can be very helpful in any divorce with children where the parents hope to be able to continue to work effectively together as co-parents after the divorce. A Child Specialist role is very...
September 27, 2015

Divorce Coaching

When couples want to have a more amicable divorce process, Divorce Coaching can help turn that hope into reality. We regularly use Divorce Coaches on Collaborative teams, but a Divorce Coach can also be very helpful to couples engaging in mediation or using a kitchen table approach. Divorce Coach...
September 17, 2015
Non violent communication

Explaining and Using Nonviolent Communication

The other day I mentioned the phrase "nonviolent communication" to my spouse. She asked what that meant - to her it sounded like something used to stop domestic violence between parties. In fact, "violent communication" does not refer to physical violence, but rather refers to something most of us a...
September 3, 2015

Divorce (or Not) – a book by Joseph Shaub

I recently had the honor of being asked to preview a new book on divorce by my good friend Joseph Shaub. Joe is both an attorney and a family therapist.  He has worked extensively as a divorce mediator, Collaborative divorce attorney, and Collaborative Divorce Coach. I have enjoyed working with him...
August 27, 2015
Finding A Lawyer

Finding a Lawyer Who Is the Best Fit

When potential clients are in the process of finding a lawyer, they often ask if the lawyer they are considering in our office is "good". Sometimes they even want to know who in our office is "best". The problem is, "good" is the minimum standard (we would not hire an attorney we did not think was v...
August 6, 2015

Alternative Child Support

Washington has established child support guidelines for how child support is to be calculated by the courts.  The courts have the ability to deviate from the guidelines but have an obligation to ensure that the deviated support still meets the needs of the children.  The ability to deviate actually...
July 30, 2015
1 … 12 13 14 15