When it comes to divorces, there are no winners or losers. Working with a divorce lawyer who's will to work through problems and troubleshoot potential sticking points can minimize the cost and collateral damage.

Here's how a divorce lawyer finds collaborative solutions to common divorce issues.

Avoid the Courtroom

Divorce lawyers who take a collaborative approach attempt to avoid courtrooms. This approach is sure to save you time and help you remain civil throughout the process.

• Meditation: in a collaborative divorce, each party free to hire lawyer. In order for the collaboration to work properly, however, each divorce lawyer must be willing to use meditation and negotiations to resolve issues. For instance, if you an agreement can't be reached about child custody or alimony, your divorce lawyers can turn to a mediator to help present solutions and compromises. Using a mediator instead of a family law courtroom allows for more flexibility and input from both parties. It also helps you avoid potentially traumatic courtroom testimony from your children.
• Transparency: another feature of collaborative divorce is openness and transparency. At the beginning of the proceedings, each divorce lawyer will agree to upload pertinent documents into a digital folder that's available to both parties. This makes dissolving shared assets and properly dividing cherished heirlooms less fraught with secrecy.

Share Costs

Divorces become exponentially more expensive when each party is responsible for constructing their own accounting and narrative. Divorce lawyers using a collaborative approach can help both parties save money by sharing costs for necessary expenses.

• Accounting: in traditional divorce proceedings, each party hires an accountant to get a clear picture of a couple's finances. Not surprisingly, this leads to discrepancies that often lead to prolong court battles that cost time and money. In a collaborative divorce, each party will agree to share the cost of hiring a licensed accountant. Once the accountant is able to gather the information, it will be shared with each party. Sharing the cost of the accountant and starting from the same negotiating position can make for a less contentious and expensive division of a couple's shared assets.
• Liquidation: some things can't be divided. For instance, if you acquired property, cars, or expensive toys during your marriage, they can't be split in half. Divorce lawyers can take a collaborative approach to the liquidation of shared assets. This can involved reducing alimony burdens and exchanging assets for debt that you might have accumulated as a couple.