Vancouver BC Family Collaborative Law Lawyers

Vancouver BC Family Collaborative Law Lawyers, Lorne N. MacLean, QC, Nick Davies, and Audra Bayer are collaboratively trained family law professionals. Our Vancouver collaborative divorce and Vancouver BC Family Collaborative Law Lawyers use the collaborative skills we have learned to help settle family law and estate litigation disputes in BC and Calgary, Alberta. The collaborative family law scheme avoids using the court process and seeks to empower parties to find their own workable solution. Respect and acknowledgment of each sides feelings and interests can help parties find a workable solution. Time frames for settlement using this approach averages 4-8 months. All of our lawyers are also highly experienced trial lawyers who can also assist in cases where the collaborative process was unsuitable or unsuccessful in helping you reach a successful resolution of your family law case.

Our lawyers have always negotiated settlements, mediated disputes and if required to ensure a just result, taken the dispute into the courtroom if a judge was required to break any deadlocks. A recent Globe article mirrors what our lawyers do to help people and their children move forward. There are benefits to settling out of court with the aid of two skilled senior counsel like Lorne N MacLean, QC.

Call us at 1-877-602-9900 to see if the “no court” collaborative family law process is right for your family.

Our Vancouver BC Family Collaborative Law Lawyers help you resolve divorce and separation problems, child parenting time and parenting plan challenges, spousal support disagreements, child support issues and excluded and family property valuation and division cases.

Our Vancouver BC Family Collaborative Law Lawyers act across BC through our 5 offices in downtown Vancouver, Surrey, Kelowna, Fort St John and Richmond, BC. We also handle Calgary Collaborative family lawyer cases out of our Calgary office.

Vancouver BC Family Collaborative Law Lawyers 1-877-602-9900

The International Academy of Collaborative Professionals or IACP for short, provides the following summary of civil collaborative practice at a Glance:

• Reduces financial, time, and emotional costs

• Avoids going to court

• Helps maintain important relationships

• Protects confidentiality and avoids publicity

• Keeps the parties in control of the process

• Encourages mutual respect

• Provides open communication

• Uses a future oriented, forward looking problem-solving approach

• Identifies and addresses all parties’ interests and concerns

MacLean Law’s Vancouver BC Family Collaborative Law Lawyers Explain How It Works

Collaborative Practice is ideally suited for use by skilled Vancouver BC Family Collaborative Law Lawyers and works in estate dispute cases as well. It  is a voluntary dispute resolution process in which parties settle without resort to litigation. Your lawyers must withdraw if the matter proceeds to court. Mental health professionals assist you to communicate better, to reduce your stress and help both parents come up with parenting plans best suited for you children’s needs. Accountants an financial planners help you with budgets, asset collection and tax planning information so creative and financially sound plans can be created to enable two new households to be sustainable. Our Vancouver BC Family Collaborative Law Lawyers work with these “divorce coaches” “child specialists” and “financial specialists” to help you fashion a sustainable solution so everyone is a winner after divorce or separation.

The official IACP website explains that in Collaborative Practice:

1. The parties sign a collaborative participation agreement describing
the nature and scope of the matter;

2. The parties voluntarily disclose all information which is relevant and
material to the matter that must be decided;

3. The parties agree to use good faith efforts in their negotiations to reach
a mutually acceptable settlement;

4. Each party must be represented by a lawyer whose representation
terminates upon the undertaking of any contested court proceeding;

5. The parties may engage mental health and financial professionals
whose engagement terminates upon the undertaking of any contested
court proceeding; and

6. The parties may jointly engage other experts as needed.

Vancouver BC Family Collaborative Law Lawyers Appreciate The IACP Definition Of How it Works

Collaborative Practice

An out of court process for resolving disputes respectfully. A non-adversarial approach, it utilizes specially-trained lawyers, and sometimes other professionals, to help the spouses negotiate a mutually acceptable settlement without using the court to decide any issues. In Collaborative Practice, core elements form the parties’ contractual commitments, which are to:

– Negotiate a mutually acceptable settlement without having courts decide issues.
– Maintain open communication and information sharing.
– Create shared solutions acknowledging the highest priorities of all.

Collaborative Practice can also apply to disputes involving civil unions or unmarried couples, employment law, probate law, elder law, estate planning, construction law, real property law, and other civil law where continuing relationships exist after the conflict has been resolved. In Collaborative Practice, the lawyers and parties sign an agreement aligning everyone’s interests in resolution. It specifically states that the Collaborative attorneys and other professional team members are disqualified from participating in litigation if the Collaborative process ends without reaching an agreement.

For more definitions of family law terms and collaborative family law practice click here to go to the official IACP website.