Some lawyers say they settle most of their cases anyway, so the collaborative process isn't necessary. Is that true?

It's true that about 98% of all family law cases settle (reach agreement without the court's intervention) before a trial. However, if you choose the most traditional way to handle a family law matter, which is litigation, you are entering into an adversarial process. That means your lawyer and your partner's lawyer advocate your positions based on your and your partner's personal wants, needs and viewpoints. Rather than communicating directly with one another, you and your partner communicate primarily through your lawyers through proposals, counterproposals, and ultimatums. Even though your lawyers may be civil and cooperative, the ability to reach a resolution for your family is often limited by formulas, statutes, rules of thumb, war stories, and the threat of litigation. Too often such settlements are reached at the last minute, literally or figuratively on the courthouse steps. It's stressful and usually expensive. Settlement negotiations in collaborative divorce seek to ...  more