Wednesday 21 May 2014

Collaborative Practice


We are currently involved in a collaborative matter involving parties who were originally from a large regional town in Victoria. 

The parties had extensive business interests in the town where they had resided together and substantial assets which assets were included in the business, personally and in their superannuation fund.  The business was a successful business although the husband had extended their company and personal debts beyond a level that was sustainable from the income earned by their business. 

Collaborative meetings were arranged to take place in Melbourne.  The husband engaged a solicitor in Melbourne to act on his behalf.  I was acting for the wife who resided in Queensland.  My client and I travelled to Melbourne by plane on the days scheduled for our collaborative meetings.

My client was still emotionally involved as a result of the breakdown in her marriage.  Assisting us with the collaborative meetings were a psychologist (a communication expert) and an accountant (financial adviser).  All professional members of the collaborative meetings had been trained in collaborative practice.

The psychologist met the parties prior to the meetings taking place and gained a full knowledge of their emotional issues and of matters that were of concern to them.  A debriefing was arranged with the professional members of the collaborative group prior to the meeting taking place with the parties so that we had a full knowledge of emotional issues which might be disruptive to the meeting.  The psychologist took control of the initial stages of the first meeting to set the tone for the meeting and to assist the parties in communicating with each other.

Collaborative practice was a great assistance to these parties in resolving financial issues arising from the breakdown in their marriage.

Did you know that Madonna, Uma Thurman and Robyn Williams used the collaborative approach to resolve matters arising from the breakdown in their marriages.

What do you think of Collaborative Practice? 

Do you believe it is an effective way of resolving matters arising from the breakdown in a relationship?

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