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Divorce Trending Toward Collaborative Divorce in Florida

By name alone you can tell what a collaborative divorce is. Essentially, when both sides of an impending divorce agree on the divorce and simply want to get it done as painless as possible, this is collaborative in nature.

Often, an attorney mediator is hired to help navigate the process and to legally separate the belongings. This is a relatively painless process and just involves some red tape. It is the opposite of a contentious divorce, which can last years and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees.

Trends in Divorce

Studies have noticed an uptick in collaborative divorces in recent years. This is mainly due to two factors:

1. People have heard and seen for themselves how horrible and costly a contentious divorce can be.
2. Women are in the workforce more than ever before and oftentimes earn comparable amounts of money as their male spouse.

According to The Florida Academy of Collaborative Professionals (FACP) statistics from surveyed Florida collaborative professionals showed:

• 92% of collaborative cases in FL are completed with full agreement.
• 95% of collaborative cases in FL are completed within 1 year.
• 84% of collaborative cases in FL are completed in less than 9 months.

Only Real Downside to Collaborative Divorce

Unfortunately, if an agreement cannot be made during this undertaking, the divorce process must start over from the beginning. An unlucky 8% of those couples who attempt a collaborative divorce will fail and need to start the process over or seek a contentious divorce.

Cost of a Collaborative Divorce

This depends on several variables, of course, but it is safe to say that the attorney’s fees can be as little as a few hundred bucks up to a few thousand. The Florida court filing fees are about $400. So, in essence, a collaborative divorce can be done for under a thousand dollars total.

Many times, divorce attorneys will recommend the amicable route if there is not a lot of shared property or wealth and the couple seems to be on the same page as to how they want the process to go.

Break Down of a Collaborative Divorce

The court will split property 50-50 if it is considered “marital property”, ie., property that was acquired by either spouse during the marriage. Anything owned before the marriage will simply be awarded to the person who owned it prior. It’s a pretty simple break-down.