Articles | Seattle Divorce Services

Do Children Get a Say In Custody?

Under Washington law, children do not get to determine their custody arrangements. They may, however, get some chance to influence the court's decision. I have never seen a court allow a child to testify directly in court, as the court tries to avoid putting the children in the middle of the divorc...

Can I Get Sole Custody?

In Washington State we do not generally discuss parenting in terms of "custody". Normally in this state, the parents share custody of the children; i.e. both parents continue to be involved in raising the children. One parent might have the children more of the time (often referred to as the "prima...

Your Divorce Doesn’t Have To Be A Zero Sum Game

By Nathan Cliber - Attorney at Seattle Divorce Services Divorce doesn’t have to be a zero sum game. It’s common wisdom that nobody “wins” in a divorce. While this is often true, it doesn’t mean that everyone has to lose. The greatest losses in any divorce come from fighting. The damage done by fig...

Early Mediation: How it Works

When seemingly irreconcilable differences arise in a marriage, sometimes the only option that seems possible is the choice with the most finality - litigating the issues through the courts. However, early mediation can produce agreements over division of property and liabilities, support, and parent...

The Problem With Escalating Conflict

Too often people believe that the best way to deal with conflict is to "fight fire with fire". If they are accused of something, they accuse back. If they are yelled at, they yell back. If attacked in any way, they attack back. The problem with this approach is that it just fuels the fire, and ever...

The Collaboration Option – by Theresa Lorella

By Theresa Lorella Attorney at Seattle Divorce Services Many of the tools that have been discussed in the previous articles in this series that aid parties in lowering conflict and arriving at settlement agreements, have come to us from the world of Collaborative Law. Most Collaborative cases invol...

The Mediation Option – by Theresa Lorella

By Theresa Lorella Attorney at Seattle Divorce Services In the previous posts in this series, we have explored methods to move a litigation case into a more cooperative setting or to begin a litigation filing with the express intent of remaining cooperative. For those who are firmly committed to a...

The Hybrid “Cooperative Divorce” by Theresa Lorella

By Theresa Lorella Attorney at Seattle Divorce Services As described in the previous post, many people are hoping they can avoid the costs—emotional and financial—of litigating a divorce or legal separation from their partner. In the first article, I discussed how to potentially reduce the conflict...

Cooperative Litigation – by Theresa Lorella

By Theresa Lorella Attorney at Seattle Divorce Services Most people do not approach an impending separation from their spouse with the desire to “fight it out.” In fact, most people hope that they can avoid unnecessary pain to themselves, their spouse and their children whenever possible. While div...

Moving from Positions to Interests

At the recent annual conference of the Collaborative Professionals of Washington, I attended a workshop by Jacinta Gallant, a mediator and Collaborative lawyer from Prince Edward Island. One of the things she spoke about was the process of moving from positions to interests in negotiations. Positio...