Is Flat Fee Divorce Even Possible?
Most lawyers will tell you that it is impossible to do a divorce on a Flat Fee Basis. That is only true based on their inherent flawed assumptions. Those lawyers are assuming that there always has to be either two people, a husband and a wife, or four people, the parties and their attorneys involved in a divorce. Granted, it is virtually impossible to predict the outcome of a proceeding in a contested, adversarial process, when those factors are controlling the outcome.
What I am proposing, and the reason I can offer a Flat Fee Divorce, is because I have altered the essential equation. I am talking about a situation in which only three people are involved: (1) a husband, (2) a wife, and (3) a Neutral Attorney/Mediator who is negotiating and drafting a document congruent with an understanding arrived at by the parties, with the help of the divorce Mediator in which all the parties are in agreement.
Here at The Law Collaborative, we offer three Flat Fee Divorces Packages – $1,495, $3,495, and $5,495. Each is clear, precise, thorough, and accurate as to what is being offered. The Packages do not include the filing fee, which is currently $435. Our most affordable package reflects the time it takes for a Paralegal to put together fully executed Agreement by the parties in which they have a complete agreement on Custody, Visitation, Support, allocation and apportionment of Assets and Debts. This does happen. However, it is infrequent. More likely there is going to be some conversations or discussions that may lead to two or three meetings. We call that the Mid-Range Flat Fee Divorce. Our high-End Flat Fee Divorce for $5,495 assumes there is going to be some difficulty, a few meetings, but the parties are willing to work together.
Working with this new set of assumptions, an Agreement can be reached within two to three meetings. If the parties are willing to accept the ultimate Mediator recommendations, it can go even faster. The reason this process works is that the Mediator works for neither party. The Mediator is a neutral who is facilitating and supporting an outcome. If anything, the neutral is representing the minor child or children.
This alters the equation in so basic and essential a manner, that it is possible to predict with some certainty the outcome. This is only possible, however, because the attorney, who is negotiating and drafting, is controlling the outcome subject the guidance, advice, and input of the parties. But the parties must accept their responsibility and participate in good faith. It cannot work unless the parties are willing to work. That is the key. The matter and the parties must be ripe. I have seen all too often the sad result where one or the other of the parties is not ready.
Lawyers must become proficient in assessing and addressing the parties in this crucial regard. Failure to do so can and will produce sorry results. Therein lies the challenge we all face. We must all become competent, skillful, experienced, knowledgeable, and masterful in the practice of our art. The law, after all, is an art, not a science.
July Divorce Workshop
Save the date, July 14, 2012, for our next FREE Second Saturday Divorce Workshop.
(See flier below for more info.)
Navigating a Mediation Career
To download a PDF of the flier to your computer, click here —> April mediation event flyer
The Law Collaborative Los Angeles is pleased to announce that Ronald Supancic, CFLS is speaking along with Myer Sankary, Esq., at the Mentor project event at Cal State Dominguez Hills on April 23, 2012 from 5-7:00 p.m. in Loker Student Union. It is vital to provide support and mentoring to up and coming peacemakers. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend. We look forward to seeing you there.
New Webinar – Collaborative Law in Civil Litigation
I’m going to be speaking in a webinar about the Collaborative Law movement’s application to Civil Litigation for The West LegalEdcenter on March 9, 2012 at 1:00 p.m. Click the link below and sign up- It’s going to be very interesting and I’m excited to be a part of it 🙂
Sign up now for The West LegalEdcenter – Collaborative Law for Civil Litigation
Free Divorce Workshop
This year, in accord with my resolution to live more mindfully, I am offering the Second Saturday Divorce Workshop for FREE as a contribution to the community. If you know someone who is going through a divorce, thinking about divorce or is faced with other family law issues, please pass this invitation on. If you are experiencing a family law crisis yourself, I invite you to join us on the Second Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at my office in Woodland Hills for a roundtable discussion providing information and guidance. Learn about the 7 options for divorce, how to communicate with your ex effectively to achieve goals that are consistent with your interests, and how to restructure your family in a healthy and positive way.
As a California Bar Certified Family Law Specialist, one of my goals is to help clients achieve a successful divorce. It may seem like the words “successful” and “divorce” contradict themselves, but they do not. Experience and academic studies have helped us identify the basic elements of a successful divorce. “Successful,” as used here, means to complete the process of emotional separation, establish a new center of balance as a single person, maintain the welfare of your children, and develop healthy attitudes toward yourself, your ex-spouse, and your past marriage.
As in life itself, absence of conflict is not part of a successful divorce. A degree of anger and conflict is natural, useful, and constructive. It helps break the bonds of attachment and old patterns in the relationship, stimulates reflection, and enables change. (Excessive and destructive conflict, however, requires special treatment – usually the intervention of divorce coaches).
I ask clients to try to view their “ex” as a problem-solving partner. It is helpful to consider the ‘ex’ as someone who can actively and constructively participate in resolving the issues created by the separation. The closer the parties come to mutuality and balance, the healthier it will be for them and their family.
If you would like to attend the next free family law workshop, please RSVP by calling toll free (818) 348-6700, or reply to this email. To view other upcoming free events at The Law Collaborative, please visit www.thelawcollaborative.com/events.htm. I encourage you to forward this invitation to your friends, family, and colleagues.
Best wishes for a healthy and happy New Year,
Ron Supancic, CFLS
The Law Collaborative, APC
Woodland Hills, CA 91367
T: (818) 348-6700
F: (818) 348-0961
www.thelawcollaborative.com/
Love Yourself
Happy Holidays to all of you, and the warmest Greetings for the coming year.
This holiday season we are making an effort to live mindfully. At the suggestion of one of the staff at The Law Collaborative, we have jointly decided that the funds normally spent on holiday cards, gifts to each other, and a Holiday meal at a restaurant, would be better spent in a more creative and mindful manner. We have collaboratively chosen to donate the funds to a family that we are sponsoring through a local organization.
Birth is involuntary. Death is inevitable. That is the cycle of life. It begins with a single inhalation. It ends with a single exhalation. In between, we take a finite number of breaths; the single most important activity in life. Each breath we breathe can be an invitation to live more fully, more consciously, and more attentively.
Mindfulness is conscious attention to each moment that we live. It’s not easy but when we succeed, we find it’s worth the effort. Mindfulness is at the heart of appreciation, gratitude, respect, and love. When we embrace appreciation, express gratitude, and show respect, we experience love in wonderful ways; love of nature, love of beauty, and love of humankind, including ourselves.
In loving awareness, love for self is able to well up, fill us, and spill over to refresh and irrigate others. How strange that Self-love becomes the heart of our love for others. Love for others is the prescription for the redemption of the ills of the world. Until we learn this essential lesson, we will continue to experience hostility, unhappiness, and war.
That is why this holiday we are making an effort to live mindfully. You are helping us to make this possible. Thank you for your support in 2011, and your continued support in 2012.
Wishing you Happy Holidays and a wonderful New Year,
Ron Supancic, CFLS
The Law Collaborative, APC
Woodland Hills, CA 91367
T: (818) 348-6700
F: (818) 348-0961
www.thelawcollaborative.com/
The New Divorce “Fad”
For those who think Collaborative Divorce is just a fad, you should read this article from Open.Salon.com.
Collaborative Divorce is not a fad. It’s a new way to help couples separate while keeping their family intact – and all over the world, it’s working for the common good.
Happy Halloween!
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| photo by DACshots | via PhotoRee |
A very happy (and safe!) Halloween from all of us at The Law Collaborative.
Pssst… Have you checked out our events page lately? Second Saturday Divorce Workshop is Nov. 12 and From Dating Through Divorce, a seminar with information that everyone with a family needs to know, is Nov. 15. Sign up now by calling us toll free at (888) 852-9961 or by visiting www.thelawcollaborative.com/events.htm.
