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Collaborative divorce: An oxymoron?
Author(s) -
TolouShams Marina
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the brown university child and adolescent behavior letter
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1556-7575
pISSN - 1058-1073
DOI - 10.1002/cbl.30036
Subject(s) - settlement (finance) , oxymoron , law , family law , political science , sociology , business , linguistics , philosophy , finance , payment
In 1989, an attorney from Minnesota named Stu Webb became highly disenchanted with his divorce litigation practice and the damaging effects he perceived it having on his clients and himself as their attorney. He decided that he either needed to leave his divorce law practice or consider an alternative approach to handling divorce cases (i.e., one that would not involve years of distressing court hearings). In 1990, Webb came up with the idea of couples retaining attorneys as “settlement‐only” specialists, who work with the divorcing couple outside of the court system and hand the case over to trial lawyers only if the settlement process fails. Webb named his approach to divorce settlement “collaborative law,” a practice for resolving divorce that is currently available to couples in most, if not all, states.