The Members of the Collaborative Team In its most basic form, the collaborative family law process is identified as two clients and two attorneys, bound by a formal agreement, who use a collaborative approach to avoid submitting contested issues to the court. But collaborative family law at its best is a flexible process, relying on professionals from other disciplines as you need them. This team of people works together toward one goal: maximizing the benefit to your family. These are the team members and their roles: The Collaborative Attorney The collaborative attorney has specialized training who facilitates interest-based negotiation and serves as an educator and guide through the collaborative process. Your attorney also advocates for you, identifies questions and issues that need resolution, provides legal advice, generates and evaluates resolution options, manages conflict, and assists the parties in implementing agreements. The Collaborative Coach The collaborative coach, also referred to as the divorce coach in divorce cases, is a mental health professional who prepares each client to participate effectively within the collaborative process. The collaborative coach does not act as a therapist. Rather, the coach uses professional training and experience to assist you in managing emotional or psychological issues that might otherwise get in the way of a productive collaborative process. The coach also communicates with other collaborative team members to provide insight and assistance to help facilitate the process. The collaborative coach: identifies and prioritizes your concerns; provides emotional support as you move through the loss, grief and anger of separation or other difficult family law issues; identifies and offers assistance in containing strong emotions that might interfere with the collaborative process; understands the dynamics of family relationships; identifies communication patterns and improve on negative patterns as necessary; helps you develop and support an effective parenting plan and enhances your co-parenting skills; and assists you and the team in addressing roadblocks to resolution. The Child Specialist The child specialist is a mental health professional with specific training and experience in working with family systems, child development, parents and children who are in the midst of undergoing a divorce or other custody- and placement-related issue. The child specialist provides support for the children and assists parents in clarifying their children's needs and interests. The child specialist helps the parents make decisions that take their children's feelings and needs into account, giving the children a voice in the process. Overall, the child specialist has three responsibilities: to provide the children with an opportunity to voice their concerns to provide parents with information and guidance to help their children throughout the process and to provide information to the collaborative team that will help develop an effective co-parenting plan that prioritizes the needs of the children. The Financial Specialist The financial specialist is a professional who helps you gather, organize, list, understand and analyze financial data relevant to your case. The financial specialist can be a certified financial planner, certified divorce planner, certified public accountant, or other financial professional with the right training and experience to handle the unique financial challenges presented in divorce and family law cases. You can select a financial professional based on your particular circumstances and needs. The financial specialist: helps you determine and understand personal net worth and budgeting, uses expertise with tax laws as it relates to divorce, presents analyses related to child support and family maintenance, assists in providing property valuations, if necessary, and communicates among the team. Other Team Members In addition to attorneys, coaches, child and financial specialists, you may choose to retain other experts or consultants such as appraisers, mortgage brokers or vocational experts. Unlike traditional litigated cases, where the parties hire competing experts to "fight it out," both parties in the collaborative process jointly retain the experts they need and consider the options the experts present.