What can participants expect of the Collaborative Family Law Negotiations undertaken by members of the Peel Halton Region Collaborative Family Law Group?

In order to provide some predictability for Collaborative Family Law Negotiations, these guidelines will be followed.

Before the first meeting of all four Participants

1. Each lawyer will discuss with his/her client:

• the collaborative process;
• the importance of the process structure
• general rules of conduct during the collaborative process including during four way meetings
• the client’s goals and interests, and
• that comprehensive settlement proposals will be developed through the process
• the participation agreement;

2. The lawyers will discuss:

• the process structure;
• the role each lawyer will have during the meetings;
• important and urgent issues as presented by their clients
• the time, place and planning for the first meeting;
• the form of the participation agreement to be presented to the clients;

3. There will be active positive respectful communication between parties throughout the process. The lawyers will demonstrate and model respectful constructive behaviour throughout the process.

At the first meeting of the clients and lawyers

1. The lawyers will introduce and explain the process structure to the clients;
2. The Role of the lawyers and the clients will be made clear;
3. The Rules of conduct will be discussed .
4. The contents of the next meeting will be discussed.

At the second meeting

1. The participation agreement will be reviewed, finalized and signed by both clients and lawyers.
2. The group will determine how to document meetings and follow-up tasks.
3. Clients will share information as to their respective goals, priorities and expectations.
4. Any urgent or immediate issues will be identified and options for resolution canvassed; if possible, solutions to these immediate issues will be negotiated.
5. Requirements for financial disclosure will be established together with a timetable.
6. If appropriate, the need for jointly retaining outside experts will be addressed.
7. The agenda and date of the next meeting(s) will be arranged.

After each meeting of the clients and lawyers

The lawyers will communicate as necessary with one another to discuss the dynamics of the meeting and provide constructive feed-back to one another.

The second and subsequent meetings of clients and lawyers

1. When it is appropriate to do so, options for resolution of the various issues will be generated and the merits of the options will be considered in light of the goals and priorities of each of the parties.
2. Schedules for the children and summaries of property, income and reasonable expenses may be prepared jointly at meetings in an effort to narrow areas of disagreement and generate options for their resolution.
3. The lawyers will continue to be advisors to their clients while the clients take on the responsibility for negotiations.
4. Generally, any negotiations regarding both procedural and substantive issues between the lawyers in the absence of the clients will be governed by agreement between the parties.

The Agreement

The final agreement may be drafted by the parties and the lawyers working together; ideally at a meeting scheduled for this purpose.

At the end of the case

The lawyers will discuss the case with one another to highlight what each learned through the process.