Alternative Divorce Agreements – Helping You Achieve a Mutually Beneficial Outcome
Traditional divorce litigation can be costly, time-consuming, and emotionally damaging due to its adversarial nature. However, there are other alternatives available.
Collaborative divorce involves the parties working together to reach a mutually satisfying compromise that everyone can live with.
Helping You Achieve a Mutually Beneficial Agreement
Collaborative divorce is truly family-focused. This process allows you to, in effect, write your own divorce settlement. There are four basic stages to the collaborative divorce process:
Articulate your goals: You and your spouse will work together to find out what you hope the divorce will accomplish.
Gather information: Take a look at your assets and how you feel might be the best way to divide your property.
Explore your options: You and your spouse can work on brainstorming your options for property division and child custody/visitation if children are involved.
Review all child-related issues with attorneys and coaches.
Create an agreement: With the help of your attorneys, you and your spouse will be able to create a mutually beneficial, legally binding divorce agreement.
At the law firm of Bush & Heise, Attorneys at Law, our lawyers will work alongside you every step of the way with compassion and sensitivity. We can hire experts in areas of finance, child specialists, and mental health coaches.
Collaborative divorce allows you to create the agenda with none of the surprises that may arise through traditional divorce. The process is cost-efficient and generally requires only one visit to court to finalize the divorce.
Experienced Representation in Collaborative Divorce
With over 40 years of experience, Anna Markley Bush has handled divorce cases with care and compassion for a number of clients. In addition to being trained in collaborative law, she is also at the forefront of this growing movement as a founding member of the Collaborative Law Institute of Illinois.
Our Collaborative Divorce Philosophy
At Bush & Heise, our legal team brings a collaborative philosophy to the process of divorce. We work to establish agreements that address the current and future issues for the parties. We focus on maintaining relationships and eliminating the emotional and financial damage often associated with traditional divorce proceedings.
Divorce with Dignity
Our firm works with clients to minimize the negative impact divorce has on families, and to provide practical solutions to complex legal issues.
Beginning with your free initial consultation, we will work to identify issues and generate short and long-term solutions to your legal concerns. Our family law attorneys can help establish a team to handle your case. We have a number of collaboratively trained non-legal professionals and experts identified to help you throughout the collaborative process. These non-legal professionals are experienced in fields such as finance and mental health, coaching and child advocacy, and can work toward your best interests.
When dealing with complex matters such as marital property division, child support, and prenuptial agreements, collaborative divorce can be a powerful tool. Many cases addressed through collaborative law methods are resolved in half the time and at half the cost of conventional divorce. Clients also enjoy a level of control and decision making unavailable through traditional litigation when determining their future.
Top Rated Collaborative Divorce Lawyers
Traditional divorce proceedings can often take an adversarial turn, placing parties and children in physical and emotional harm’s way. Such a violent schism in a family may deeply affect children and adults for years to come. It is important to know that you do have dignified and respectful choices and options available. Collaborative divorce law is the process by which parties and their counsel agree in writing to make a good faith effort to reach a mutually acceptable resolution without resorting to expensive, painful and time-consuming litigation.
Is Collaborative Law Right for You?
If you are interested in learning how the practice of collaborative law may be applied to your situation contact Bush & Heise today to schedule a free initial case evaluation. An experienced Barrington collaborative lawyer at our firm is ready to assist you.
Find out how collaborative law can make your legal issue less costly.
Learn more about working with professionals in the collaborative process.
Lawyers at our law firm have the knowledge necessary to handle your situation throughout the entire collaborative law process. We work closely with clients to develop timely and thorough resolutions for complex divorce issues while keeping the ultimate goals and best interests of the client in mind. We allow the parties to set the tone of the proceedings and to help in drafting their own agreements in order to foster a sense of ownership and accountability toward the outcome. Our lawyers find this collaborative approach significantly increases the long-term success rates of divorce and custody settlements. Our lead collaborative attorney, Anna Markley Bush, is one of a growing number of collaboratively trained attorneys in Illinois. She is a founding member of the Collaborative Law Institute of Illinois (CLII) and a member of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (IACP).
CONTACT US TODAY FOR A FREE CASE EVALUATION
We are proud to serve clients throughout northern Illinois, including communities in Cook, Lake and McHenry Counties with respect to matters of family law, estate planning, elder law and probate.
If you have legal concerns and are unsure of what to do, contact an experienced family law attorney or estate planning lawyer at Bush & Heise today. Call us at 1-847-382-4560 or click here to schedule a free initial consultation for an honest and straightforward assessment of your case. We accept Visa and MasterCard payments, and we are available evenings and weekends by appointment for your convenience.
Bush & Heise is a full-service family law, estate planning and elder law firm located in Barrington, IL. We represent clients throughout northeastern Illinois including the communities of Algonquin, Arlington Heights, Barrington, Barrington Hills, Bartlett, Buffalo Grove, Cary, Crystal Lake, Deer Park, Fox River Grove, Hawthorn Woods, Hoffman Estates, Inverness, Kildeer, Lake in the Hills, Lake Zurich, Long Grove, McHenry, Mount Prospect, Mundelein, North Barrington, Palatine, Rolling Meadows, Roselle, Schaumburg, Streamwood, Wauconda and Woodstock.
We are open and available for in-person case consultations. Please call us at (847) 382-4560 today.
At Bush & Heise, we are committed to servicing your case as much as ever. Although courts may be closed and the world seems to be changing at an ever present rate, we still have tools to ensure that your divorce, custody, paternity or estate planning matter can move forward. We are adapting to the changes and taking all steps to make sure that our level of service is not altered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Please know that to the extent applicable, we can take the following steps on new and existing cases:
Initiate divorce and parentage cases;
File motions and pleadings seeking relief;
Obtain court dates after May 18, 2020;
File emergency motions (if the circumstances call for same);
File Petitions for Orders of Protection;
Initiate and respond to discovery;
In some cases, conduct hearings and pre-trials with the Judges remotely;
Participate in mediation electronically;
Negotiate settlement agreements with opposing counsel;
Enter Agreed Orders which become immediately enforceable;
Enter Judgments for divorce; and
Actively work on estate plans, will or trust modifications
While the current state of national health emergency continues to evolve, rest assured that our level of commitment to our clients remains unchanged. Please reach out if you have any questions or would like to schedule a phone or Zoom (video) consultation.
