When people are seeking to gain child custody rights in Florida – whether through divorce, paternity, establishment of parenting plan, grandparent custody, or other proceedings – the first step they usually take is file a petition with the Clerk of the Court.
Generally speaking, this is a mistake.
By filing a petition, they are entering into the public court system which pits mother against father. This is an adversarial system which oftentimes leads parties to engage in emotionally and financially draining court battles, and all dirty laundry gets examined and aired.
But there is another way, a private way of determining parental responsibility and child time-sharing schedules. It is called collaborative practice, also known as collaborative family law.
Collaborative practice is a form of private dispute resolution where each party hires a separate attorney for the limited purposes of helping the parties come up with a mutually agreeable parenting plan that is in the best interests of their children. The attorneys pledge from the beginning not to engage in a court battle, and they are contractually barred from bringing disputed issues in front of a judge to decide.
This helps save the parties money as the attorneys are not engaging in the usual opposition research, motion practice, and deposition-taking that fill out a good chunk of attorney invoices.
Collaborative practice happens through a series of meetings in private offices, rather than open hearings in the public courthouse. The meetings, and the process itself, is led by a neutral facilitator, who has a role similar to a mediator. The facilitator is usually a trained mental health professional who can help parties come to an agreement while working through embarrassing and emotionally-charged issues.
Only once the parties have come to a complete agreement will their attorneys file the appropriate paperwork to have a judge ratify their parenting plan and enter an enforceable child custody order.
If you have questions about how collaborative practice can help you establish child custody right in Florida, schedule a consultation with Tampa Bay Collaborative Family Lawyer Adam B. Cordover at (813) 443-0615 or by filling out our contact form.
Adam B. Cordover is an Executive Officer of the Collaborative Divorce Institute of Tampa Bay and was one of 24 professionals chosen worldwide to participate in the Inaugural Leadership Academy of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals.
About Adam B. Cordover, Attorney-at-Law
Family Diplomacy is dedicated to helping clients restructure their families privately and respectfully. We practice exclusively in out-of-court dispute resolution, with a focus on collaborative divorce and family law, mediation, direct negotiations, and unbundled legal services.
We maintain this out-of-court practice because we strongly believe that family disputes should be resolved in a private conference room, not in a hostile and public courtroom environment. This unique perspective on family law stems back to Adam B. Cordover’s experience studying International Affairs in Washington, D.C., and abroad. Adam had the rare opportunity to work closely with ambassadors and diplomats from war-torn regions around the world. He traveled around the globe, learning from diplomatic leaders as they applied dispute resolution techniques to tackle seemingly impossible conflicts. It dawned on him: If these techniques can work in the complex world of International Relations, why not Domestic Relations and Family Law?
This realization lead Adam to create an exclusively out-of-court practice and to bring a more peacemaking approach to family law. In his previous role as a litigation attorney, Adam witnessed parties experience the negative emotional and financial effects that long, drawn out divorce battles can have on families. As a result, Adam has become a strong proponent of the Collaborative Process, where a structure is put in place so that life’s hardest moments do not have to be any more difficult than necessary.
A thought leader in the international collaborative law community, Adam successfully spearheaded an effort of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit to draft an administrative order safeguarding the principles of collaborative family law (just the fourth such administrative order in Florida). Adam has been featured in or interviewed about collaborative practice by the Tampa Bay Times, Tampa Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, Miami Herald, Tampa Bay Business Journal, Florida Bar News, NBC, Fox 13, Bay News 9, ABC Action News, The World of Collaborative Practice Magazine, and Spirit FM 90.5. Adam regularly speaks at professional and civic organizations locally and internationally regarding the collaborative process.
Adam B. Cordover is president of Next Generation Divorce, a 501(c)(3) and Florida’s largest interdisciplinary collaborative practice group with member attorneys, mental health professionals, and financial professionals throughout Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Sarasota, and Manatee Counties. Adam is also on the Executive Board and co-chair of the Research Committee of the Collaborative Family Law Council of Florida. Further, Adam is a graduate of the inaugural class of the Leadership Academy of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals.
You can learn more about us and our services at www.FamilyDiplomacy.com.
Attorney Adam B. Cordover is admitted to the Florida Bar and the United States District Court, Middle District of Florida. His office is located at 412 East Madison Street, Suite 824, Tampa, Florida 33602.
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