When a couple decides to divorce, there can be a lot of stress, strain, hurt, and anger. Unfortunately, all too often, one or both spouses allow anger to get in the way, causing them to lose sight of their best interests and those of their children. While being angry is certainly understandable and to be expected, allowing anger to interfere in resolving the issues in your divorce can increase anxiety and legal fees.

Instead, you and your spouse might opt for collaborative divorce, which promotes a calmer, less-stressful divorce process. Each spouse will retain a collaborative-divorce attorney and work together to achieve a settlement that works for both spouses.  The collaborative divorce process avoids the uncertainty of going to court and enables both spouses to have control of their outcome. By putting anger aside and collaborating in the divorce process instead of becoming locked in ongoing conflict, the collaborative divorce process can be smoother, and often shorter, in achieving what both parties will feel is a fair agreement.

In the collaborative divorce process, both spouses work together with additional professionals, such as a financial planner, accountant, and divorce coach. These experts can offer unique solutions to the issues in divorce. Becoming angry at your spouse is certainly common, but the collaborative divorce process can help see that going to court isn’t always the best option.

This is particularly true when children have ring-side seats to ongoing conflict and hostility between parents fighting it out in court. Unfortunately, this can affect how children feel about themselves and their parents. While there may be times when collaborative divorce would not be the best option in certain circumstances, it can be invaluable where anger can be put aside and both spouses express a willingness to work together for a common goal.

Another important benefit of collaborative divorce is that it generally reduces costs for both spouses.  There is no point fighting in court for months to avoid giving a spouse money, when all of that money will be spent on legal fees. When spouses agree to a collaborative divorce, they work together with their attorneys to reach an agreement. This process removes the idea of fighting and winning, and instead focuses on problem-solving and troubleshooting to come to an agreement that works for everyone.

Collaborative divorce involves compromise, which is far better and easier than months in court, waiting for a judge to make a decision. By putting anger aside and collaborating on divorce, both spouses are able to come to a fair resolution, making the entire process and the aftermath of divorce less difficult for everyone involved.