Glossary

Alimony - Payments made to a separated or divorced spouse as required by a divorce decree or separation agreement. Also called Spousal Support or maintenance.

Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) - Ways of making decisions and resolving disputes, other than litigation (contested hearings); includes Collaborative Practice, mediation, parenting coordination, arbitration, and neutral evaluation.

Child Support - A set amount of money paid by the non-custodial parent to help support their children. The money is paid directly to the parent or through a state agency to the receiving parent.

Collaborative Attorney - An attorney trained in the practice of Collaborative Law to assist couples in resolving their disputes.  The Attorney addresses the legal issues that a couple faces.  Through problem-solving negotiations the attorney advises clients concerning applicable law and its effect on them and helps them draft agreements in the spirit of cooperation.

Collaborative Divorce - See Collaborative Practice; Collaborative Law. Collaborative Divorce is based on Collaborative Practice principles and the commitment to resolve all disputes out of court. The Collaborative Divorce Team may include other professionals in addition to attorneys, such as mental health and financial specialists.

Collaborative Family Law - See Collaborative Law.  Family Law is the area of law that deals with pre-marital issues, post-marital issues, separation, divorce, children's issues, parenting issues, and division of marital assets.

Collaborative Law - Collaborative Law describes the legal component of Collaborative Practice, made up of the spouses or parties and their attorneys. It consists of two clients and their respective attorneys working together toward the sole goal of reaching an efficient, fair, comprehensive settlement of all issues. All negotiations take place in "four-way" settlement meetings that both clients and both lawyers attend. The lawyers cannot go to court or threaten to go to court. Settlement is the only agenda. If either client goes to court, both collaborative lawyers are disqualified from further participation. Each client has built-in legal advice and advocacy during negotiations, and each lawyer's job includes guiding the client toward reasonable resolutions. The legal advice is an integral part of the process, but all the decisions are made by the clients. The lawyers generally prepare and process all papers required for the divorce.

Collaborative Practice - An out of court process for resolving disputes respectfully. A non-adversarial approach, it utilizes specially-trained lawyers, and oftentimes 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 employment law, probate law, 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.

Collaborative Process - The Collaborative Process uses informal discussions and conferences attended by both parties and their attorneys to settle all issues. The Collaborative Process relies on an atmosphere of honesty, cooperation, integrity, and professionalism. It requires that both parties, with the assistance of their attorneys, provide all pertinent documents and information relating to the issues to be settled, and that they work together toward a shared resolution. In the event that experts are necessary, it encourages the use of jointly retained neutral experts.

Collaborative Team - A Collaborative team is the combination of professionals that the couple chooses to work with to resolve their dispute. It consists of their Collaborative lawyers, and may also consist of a neutral mental health counselor, and a neutral financial professional.   In addition to these team members, a couple may chose a child specialist or other specialists they believe would be helpful. The "Collaborative team" guides and supports the couple as problem-solvers, not as adversaries.

Contested Divorce - A contested divorce is one in which the husband and wife cannot come to an agreement on one or several issues related to the termination of their marriage. Where the partners cannot come to an agreement, even with the aid of their respective counsels, the couple must then take their issue(s) to a court to be decided.

Conventional Divorce - In a conventional divorce, parties rely upon the court system and judges to resolve their disputes. Unfortunately, in a conventional divorce spouses often come to view each other as adversaries, and the divorce may be a battleground. The resulting conflicts take an immense toll on emotions--especially the children's.

Dissolution - Meaning "to end" or "dissolve". Often used interchangeably with the word "divorce" as in "dissolution of marriage". See Divorce.

Divorce - Divorce is a legislatively created, judicially administered process that legally terminates a marriage no longer considered viable by one or both of the spouses. Divorce is also known as dissolution of marriage. Traditionally, divorce was fault-based. In other words, there was an "innocent or injured" party and a party that had done "wrong" with the "innocent" party being able to obtain relief or a divorce. This system was adversarial in nature. Even if both parties wanted a divorce, one party had to allege wrongdoing by the other. In the 1970s this system was reformed and a "no-fault" system was put in place.

Divorce Decree/Final Judgement - A court's formal order granting a termination of a marriage. If a divorce case goes to trial and the judge issues a decree or final judgment which is signed and dated by the judge and court clerk.

Divorce Litigation - Litigation is a legal term meaning 'carrying out a lawsuit.'  In a divorce, litigation can be very destructive to the parties and their children.

Effects of Divorce - The effects of divorce can change virtually every aspect of people's lives, including where they live, with whom they live, their standard of living, their emotional happiness, their assets and liabilities, time spent with children and other family, and so much more. Some effects of divorce can be positive, such as ending an unhappy or even abusive relationship. Other effects of divorce can be detrimental to personal well-being.

Effects of Divorce on Children- Divorce affects children differently, depending on their gender, age and stage of development. Their world, their security and their stability seems to fall apart when their parents divorce. Following are universal responses that researchers have found among children of divorce.

Feelings:

• They worry that their parents don't love them anymore and they feel abandoned. They feel like the parent who left has divorced them too.
• They feel powerless and helpless because they can't get their parents back together. They can't speed up or slow down the process.
• They feel angry although they may not express their anger.
• They often feel they are at fault. They may believe something they did or said caused a parent to leave.
• They grieve. Divorce is a loss in the lives of children and parents. They experience a grieving process very similar to mourning a death.
• They experience conflicts of loyalty.

Behaviors:

• Acting out behavior ranges from very mild behavior, such as difficulty sleeping, to extremely destructive behavior, such as suicide, drug abuse, or violence.
• Other behaviors may include problems in school, nervous habits, repetitive physical behaviors, and regressive behaviors such as bed-wetting, fears, and use of comfort items. Children may become clingy and whiny and they may need greater understanding of their moods and behavior. They have a greater need to be nurtured.
• They may think they have to "take care" of their parents. Giving up one's childhood to care for emotionally troubled parents is a widespread characteristic in children of divorce.
• These behaviors are common for children experiencing divorce. There is a false assumption that children are "naturally resilient" and can "get through" a divorce with little or no impact on their lives. Instead, they need support systems and individuals to help during the transition.

Family Law - An area of the law that deals with family-related issues and domestic relations including, but not limited to:

• The nature of marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships;
• Issues arising during marriage, including spousal abuse, legitimacy, adoption, surrogacy, child abuse, and child abduction;
• The termination of the relationship and ancillary matters including divorce, annulment, property settlements, alimony, and parental responsibility orders (in the United States, child custody and visitation, child support awards).

Family Law Attorney - A lawyer practicing in the area of Family Law.

Financial Counselor - This professional acts as a neutral party who assists both spouses in gathering all the financial information about the couple or family in a supportive and nurturing environment. Each client is encouraged to assist in financial disclosure and documentation of the income, expenses, assets, and debts of the family. The essential shift is from a data focus to a system focus, whereby the financial counselor listens and then helps the clients understand the overall picture created by their particular family's financial situation. The knowledge gained by the clients through the data collection and documentation can aid each partner in achieving the financial settlement he/she desires.

Financial Planner/Financial Advisor/Estate Planner - Certified professionals who work in the field of accounting, insurance, or investments. They advise clients on how to invest their money to get the best return on their dollar based on their own tolerance for risk. They can facilitate retirement planning, long-term financial investment and life insurance needs.

Interest-Based Negotiation - Also called "interest-based bargaining" or "win-win bargaining," interest-based negotiation is a negotiation strategy in which parties collaborate to find a "win-win" solution to their dispute. This strategy focuses on developing mutually beneficial agreements based on the interests of the disputants. Interests include the needs, desires, concerns, and fears important to each side. Interest-based negotiation is important because it usually produces more satisfactory outcomes for the parties involved than does positional bargaining.

Marital Settlement Agreement - A Marital Settlement Agreement is a written document that outlines the divorcing spouses' rights and agreements regarding property, support and children. All forms are signed by both spouses and witnessed by a notary public. The issues that must be resolved by the spouses and outlined in the Marital Settlement Agreement include:

• Division of assets and other property
• Repayment of debt and monies owed to creditors
• Alimony, child support, timesharing

In a no-fault divorce, the judge will not decide any of these issues for you. These issues are solved voluntarily between the spouses.

Mediation - A method of resolving disputes, within the litigation framework in which a trained, neutral person (the mediator) helps the parties work out a solution. The mediator cannot give either party legal advice or be an advocate for either side. If mediation doesn't result in a settlement, the parties usually proceed to trial. 

Mediator - A neutral, impartial person who is trained in negotiation, conflict resolution and communication skills. The mediator does not represent any party or take sides, nor does he/she act as an attorney, judge, coach or therapist. He/she explains the mediation process to the parties, and assists divorcing couples to clarify issues, concerns, interests, needs and values.

Positional Bargaining - This type of negotiation strategy is based on fixed, opposing viewpoints (positions) and tends to result in compromise or no agreement at all (impasse). Often, compromises do not efficiently satisfy the true interests of the disputants. Instead, compromises simply split the difference between the two positions, giving each side half of what they want. Creative, integrative solutions achieved through interest-based negotiation or interest-based bargaining, on the other hand, can potentially give everyone all of what they want.

Prenuptial Agreement - Also referred to as a "premarital agreement", this is a legal document that dictates how property and debt will be split should the parties decide to divorce at some future time.

Shared Parenting - The concept of shared parental responsibility provides a framework for effective co-parenting. It is the public policy of the State of Florida to encourage parents to share the rights and responsibilities of child rearing. Shared parental responsibility is a court ordered relationship in which both parents retain full parental rights and responsibilities and in which both parents confer with each other, so that major decisions affecting the welfare of the children will be determined jointly. The concept of shared parental responsibility is intended to protect the children's right to an ongoing relationship with both parents.

Spousal Support - Also called "alimony" and "spousal maintenance", this term refers to money paid to one spouse by another to help the lesser-earning spouse maintain a certain standard of living. Spousal support is most common in situations where one spouse makes considerably more than the other.

Uncontested Divorce - An uncontested divorce is one in which all issues have been agreed upon by the parties. The parties reduce their agreement to writing and it is presented to a Judge at the final hearing. An uncontested divorce can be achieved by the parties working on their own or through mediators and collaborative lawyers as well as lawyers working in the traditional context.