Family law negotiation is a less formal process than collaborative law and typically involves two lawyers communicating on their clients’ behalves about the financial and parenting issues that arise on separation. If there are certain issues one or both spouses will likely not agree on, the parties can litigate those issues, or hire a mediator to help resolve them.

Like a collaborative approach, depending on your and your spouse’s ability to settle your differences, there are both financial and emotional advantages to negotiating your family law issues, when compared to both litigation and mediation. The key difference from the collaborative law process is that neither of you make any promises to the other about how you will behave during the negotiation.

Whether negotiation is the right approach for you will depend on how quickly you believe you and your spouse can reach an agreement on your issues, how willing you are to disclose the information necessary to reach a settlement, and how patient you can be if there are bumps in the road.