My Family Law > What Happens If My Partner and I Can’t Agree on Every Issue?

Posted on October 4, 2013

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From My Family Law:

While collaborative divorce has good success rates, there will often still be times when couples just can’t agree on something. Does this mean you’ll have to give up on a collaborative divorce as an option?

Not necessarily. If couples are having a difficult time agreeing to anything then, yes, you may end up having to secure new attorneys (you can’t use the same attorney in a collaborative situation as in a contested situation) and go forward with litigation. However, depending upon the issue in question and the overall state of your negotiations so far, you may be able to submit a single or limited issue for third party consideration by a judge.

The key is whether or not this type of move would disrupt the collaborative process. Sometimes, for example, couples do really well in collaborative divorce as a whole but struggle with just one or two issues. If the couple can agree to allow a judge to rule on these specific issues without letting the ruling affect the rest of the collaborative negotiations, then it is very possible to allow the judge to decide just a particular issue and incorporate that decision into the collaborative agreement.

For this to work, both parties must agree that submitting an issue to a judge will not impede the collaborative process and they must also agree to abide by the judge’s ruling.

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