How often do Collaborative Divorces Succeed?

One of the downsides of Collaborative Law, as with any alternative dispute resolution process, is that if you do not settle your case outside of court, there is still the risk that you will end up in court litigating your dispute. Many people still choose to give amicable settlement a fair chance, but a common question when trying to make this choice is "how often do these cases succeed in settling outside of court?" While every case is different and will present unique issues, there is now some available data to answer this question.

The International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (IACP) has collected data on Collaborative cases from the professionals involved in those cases through the use of an IACP Professional Practice Survey and reported some of their findings in The Collaborative Review Spring 2012 issue.

Based on a a total of nine hundred and thirty–three cases, which were reported from October 16, 2006 through July 6, 2010, they found that:

"86% of all reported Collaborative cases settled with an agreement on all issues."

In addition, 14% of the cases that terminated without a full agreement had reached a partial agreement.

These percentages confirm that most Collaborative cases will settle, and that is no surprise when clients are well informed beforehand about the process and choose to enter a process aimed at working together. Hopefully, this information will lead to more people choosing to utilize the Collaborative process. Especially given the amount of control over your own life that the Collaborative process provides, and the positive feedback we typically receive from our collaborative clients.

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New Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines (2021): Big Changes, Little Changes, Typos & some Unexpected Results

UPDATE: The court has released a web calculating version of the 2021 MA Child Support Guidelines Worksheet . It resolves some of the typos referred to below, but the unexpected calculations still apply. Every four years, per federal mandate, the Massachusetts Probate & Family Court revisits the Child Support Guidelines through the work of a Task Force appointed by the Chief Justice. The 2021 Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines were recently posted. They take effect on October 4, 2021. If you are interested in a training on all of these changes to the new Child Support Guidelines: DMTA Presents the 2021 MA Child Support Guidelines Update – Attend this event to learn the key updates you need to know for your mediation clients. Presented by Justin Kelsey of Divorce Mediation Training Associates and Skylark Law & Mediation, PC . For a full comparison of all the tracked changes between the 2018 and 2021 Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines you can download a pdf sho

Online Tool for Creating Parenting Plans

It is our hope that all families find a way to resolve conflict peacefully. This is especially true when children are involved. Divorced or separated parenting has many complications and the first is just deciding how to share time with a child from two separate households. Developing a schedule can result in a lot of tension, especially if parents have trouble picturing how this new schedule will interact with their work schedules and the schedules of their children. To help make this easier, we've created an online tool for creating parenting plans that is simple and easy to use: We encourage parents, regardless of the process they are using to divorce, to use this form to assist in evaluating and settling custody disputes. The form allows you to choose between the Model Parenting Plan proposals or customize your parenting plan over a four week period by clicking directly on the form. When you click on a section of the calendar it switches between Mom and Dad, an

What is the purpose of the Divorce Nisi waiting period?

In Massachusetts the statutory waiting period after a Judgment of Divorce and before the divorce becomes final (or absolute) is called the Nisi period. After a divorce case settles or goes to trial, a Judgment of Divorce Nisi will issue and it will become Absolute after a further ninety (90) days. This waiting period serves the purpose of allowing parties to change their mind before the divorce becomes final. If the Judgment of Divorce Nisi has issued but not become final yet, and you and your spouse decide you don't want to get divorced, then you can file a Motion to Dismiss and the Judgment will be undone. Although many of my clients who are getting divorced think the idea of getting back together with their ex sounds crazy, I have had cases where this happened. In addition to offering a grace period to change your mind, the Nisi period has three other legal effects: 1. The most obvious effect of the waiting period is that you cannot remarry during the Nisi period, be

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