For over 30 years, Cincinnati attorney John L. Heilbrun has been representing people in southwest Ohio in matters involving all aspects of family and marital law. He has extensive experience practicing in the Domestic Relations Courts of Hamilton, Butler, Clermont and Warren counties in Ohio.

Collaborative Divorce (also known as Collaborative Law) is a process by which spouses who agree that they are going to end their marriage also agree that they are going to work together with their respective attorneys to resolve, by agreement, all issues which are incident to the contemplated termination of their marriage.

Collaborative Divorce is an alternative to costly and emotionally stressful adversarial Courtroom proceedings. It requires a commitment by both spouses to resolve all issues by agreement. It allows the parties to maintain control of the process and to resolve the issues themselves rather than turning over the responsibility for the resolution of these most important issues to the Court.

Collaborative Divorce focuses on the client rather than the lawyers and the traditional adversarial legal model.  The interests and goals of both spouses and their children are discussed and identified, and the issues incident to the termination of the marriage are agreed upon during a series of meetings involving both spouses and their respective attorneys.

To proceed with the Collaborative process,  both spouses must hire attorneys who have been specially trained to practice Collaborative Law. John Heilbrun is a member of a select group of family and marital law attorneys and other affiliated professionals who have undergone this special training and have significant experience representing clients in the Collaborative process.  In some cases, a specially trained family relations specialist and/or financial advisor will also be hired to assist the spouses and their attorneys in working together to resolve all issues in a manner that will work best for the parties and their children.

A significant benefit of the Collaborative process is that by working together to resolve all issues which arise as a result of the decision to terminate the marriage, the spouses lessen the possibility of increasing the conflict between them and of having that increased conflict continue on into the future. This is of critical importance in cases where the parties have children, as the significant stress that results from adversarial Court proceedings often causes increased and long lasting conflict between the parties, which ultimately adversely affects their children.

The Collaborative Divorce process is also often less expensive and takes less time than adversarial Court proceedings.

For more information regarding collaborative divorce in Ohio, or to discuss your legal matter, call us at (513) 321-3940 or contact us online >