Collaboration best way to get a 'dignified divorce'

A new legal forum has been launched this month in a bid to encourage couples who are going through 'big money' divorces to opt for a collaborative approach.

The Central London Collaborative Forum has been set up to help couples who are going through a marital separation to lessen the financial and emotional blow of ending their relationship.

Organisers believe that the high payouts and bitter feelings of high-profile cases, such as that of Paul McCartney and Heather Mills, can be avoided if a collaborative approach is taken.

The group explained: "Sir Paul McCartney's divorce from Heather Mills demonstrates the most extreme example of an acrimonious break-up. However, the publicity this break up has received obscures the fact that, throughout the country, family lawyers and separating couples are striving to reduce acrimony in divorce. The collaborative process is one of the best ways to achieve a dignified divorce," clickdocs.com reports.

If couples opt for collaboration, they work with a team of professionals instead of going to court and aim to reach a settlement that meets their specific personal and financial needs.

The first collaborative family lawyers trained in the UK October 2003. There are now more than 1,000 such lawyers in the UK and Ireland.

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