A Third Way

Linda Lee — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:11:46 -0400

Robin Williams and his wife, Marsha Garces Williams, have announced in court papers that they are going to have a collaborative divorce. (Which means we won't see them and their children paraded on special editions of Entertainment Tonight.) In their court filing they said they would be "honest, cooperative and respectful" and put their children first.

A collaborative divorce allows the couple to make final decisions on the division of property, custody, child support, and other matters, and not leave the decisions to the judge. The idea is to look at long-term interests instead of short-term anger, according to The Wall Street Journal.

In mediation, the husband and wife seeking a divorce meet with a trained mediator, try to work out an agreement, and the agreement is sent to their respective lawyers. Mediation is sometimes ordered in the midst of litigation, as a way to resolve problems. Mediation, on average, will cost around $7,000.

In a collaborative divorce, the couple agrees that they will reveal all pertinent information and their lawyers agree that they will not go to court. If the husband and his lawyer and the wife and her lawyer cannot come to an agreement on something, a neutral expert – a psychologist, an accountant, a real estate analyst, whatever – is brought in to offer advice.

The sides agree not to take advantage of mistakes made by each other. (If only this process had been around during the marriage!)

Everything about the settlement remains confidential. (Thus the results of the Robin Williams divorce will not hit the tabloids.) And finally, if the process breaks down, which it does in less than 10 percent of cases, the two sides cannot continue with their lawyers. They have to start over from the beginning.

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A Third Way