In discussing the benefits of Collaborative Divorce, we often talk about how it will help save your relationship with your spouse, cause you less stress and anxiety, be less harmful to the kids, and usually costs less than “old school” litigation.
One of the real world examples of this is the case of a family that owns a small business, as this story illustrates. If you are the owner of a small business and are considering a divorce, you must consider how a traditional divorce will impact the business. As Richard Sharp, a Collaborative Divorce Lawyer, says “a business caught in the cross fire of a divorce will suffer. Inattention from a stressed-out, depressed or preoccupied owner can lose customers and business opportunities. Divorce costs can escalate as competing lawyers and forensic accountants pick over the assets of the business.”
Besides the marital home, a family owned business can be one of the significant assets that is divided in a divorce. In addition, the family may be relying on income from that business to pay the household bills. Throwing the business, and the ownership of the business, into the turmoil of divorce can be devastating to the financial prosperity of the family as a whole.
In a collaborative divorce, we utilize interest based, rather than position based, negotiation. As a result we are able to dig a bit deeper and find out what both parties want out of the divorce. If the wife wants the marital home and the husband wants his business, than we can craft creative solutions that will get you there, without bankrupting the family with legal bills. If need be, we can bring in “financial neutrals” and therapists to help the parties work through issues that may arise during the process.
In the end, the parties in Richard’s story ended up with a better, more economical solution to their divorce, all because they chose to go the collaborative route.