Canada Embraces Collaborative Divorce

In a trend I like to see, it seems collaborative divorce is on the rise in Canada. A report in the Toronto Globe & Mail says that the number of lawyers in Ontario province who offer collaborative divorce services has gone from 85 to 550 in the past five years. It’s a sign that more and more people are choosing a less-adversarial, more civilized process for ending marriages.

But it gets even better than that. There is a movement under way to amend Canada’s divorce code so that lawyers would be required to inform divorcing clients of the collaborative option. Somehow it’s hard to imagine anything like that happening nation-wide here in the U.S. The Globe & Mail story says three states (California, Texas and North Carolina) presently have it written into their divorce statutes.

In addition to being easier on everyone’s nerves, collaborative divorce is often less expensive and far less of a hassle than the traditional lawyer vs. lawyer model. One attorney quoted in the piece tells you everything you need to know when she says that “when you say ‘no court’ to couples divorcing, their eyes light up.” Amen.

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