Reliable and Knowledgeable Legal Guidance
Once the decision to end the marriage has been made, it is vital for both spouses to retain an experienced and knowledgeable Family Law Attorney. John Heilbrun has over 35 years of experience as an Ohio family lawyer, and he understands the emotional distress that most people experience when facing the end of their marriage. John Heilbrun will meet with you to discuss your situation, and to inform you about the various legal and practical processes that exist to resolve the issues incident to the ending of your marriage.
Although the Collaborative Divorce Process is a relatively new approach to resolving these issues, John Heilbrun has been representing clients in Collaborative Process Divorce cases for over 20 years. In a Collaborative Process Divorce, the spouses sign a contract by which they agree that they will work together, along with their attorneys and possibly other professionals, to reach agreements on all of the issues incident to the ending of their marriage. The Collaborative Divorce Process is a more positive and less adversarial alternative to the traditional litigation/Court model. Although this page will hopefully help you better understand the Collaborative Process, the best way to learn about the Process, and to decide whether it would be a good option for you and your family, is to meet and talk with an experienced Collaborative Divorce attorney. Please call 513-548-5606 or contact The Law Office of John Heilbrun to schedule such an initial consultation.
Understanding Collaborative Divorce
The Collaborative Process is a Divorce process by which spouses who have decided to end their marriage seek to resolve the issues incident to that decision in a cooperative and collaborative way. It requires that each spouse be represented by an attorney with specialized training in the Collaborative Process. The overall goal is for the spouses to be able to reach agreements on all issues that are satisfactory to each of them. During the Collaborative Process, both parties, along with their attorneys and often other professionals who become part of the “team”, meet together and try to find a reasonable and acceptable resolution on all issues. One of the main goals of the Collaborative Process is to bring the ending of the marriage to a conclusion in a respectful manner, and, to do so in a way that is most likely to cause the least amount of additional damage to the spouses, their relationship with each other, and their children.
Benefits of a Collaborative Divorce
One of the most important benefits of using the Collaborative Process is the lessening of further adversarial conflict between the parties. The traditional adversarial/ litigation Court model of Divorce proceedings often creates an environment that escalates the conflict between the spouses. Even if the parties are ultimately able to come to an agreement on all issues without proceeding to a trial before a Judge, the adversarial process tends to foster additional anger and antagonism between the parties that does not just disappear even if they are finally able to reach an agreement on most, or even all, of the issues. This will not only lead to ongoing problems between the spouses after their marriage, but will also adversely affect their children.
In a Collaborative Process Divorce, the spouses work together with their attorneys, and the other professionals, to make the important decisions that have to be made when a marriage is ending. In a Collaborative Process Divorce, the spouses make all the final decisions rather than a Judge or a Magistrate. By engaging in the Collaborative Process, you will increase the likelihood that you and your spouse will be able to work together to reach a mutually agreeable resolution of all issues, which will also foster a more positive future relationship, which is extremely important if you have children.
Few attorneys in the Cincinnati/Hamilton County area have more training and experience in the Collaborative Divorce Process than John Heilbrun. He has been representing clients in Collaborative Divorce Process cases for over 20 years. John is also a member of a very active Cincinnati Collaborative Law group that meets monthly to discuss situations and issues that arise in the Collaborative Process so as to be able to better assist their clients in the future if similar issues should arise in the cases involving those clients. John also regularly participates in additional training in the Collaborative Process in an effort to improve his skills and to better help his clients resolve by agreement and through the Collaborative Process, the issues that arise when their marriage is ending. Call The Law Office of John Heilbrun at 513-548-5606, or send a message to schedule a consultation.