Seattle Divorce Services represents clients in the Washington State Superior Courts, primarily in King and Snohomish counties.
Services provided include:
Litigation
Mediation
and Mediation Support
Cooperative
Law
Collaborative
Divorce
Self
Help Legal Services
Litigation refers to resolving matters in court and negotiating settlements based on what a court is likely to do. Our representation includes:
- Advocacy for your rights and the best interests of your family to the court, opposing counsel, and other parties
- Appearing in court as your legal counsel and representative
- Seeking out and requesting all information needed to support your case
- Preparing all documents needed to secure temporary and final relief from the court or in settlement agreements
- All services necessary to protect and represent your interests in your family law action
An important part of the process is helping you define your goals and helping plan the process for working towards those goals. Defining your goals is not just a matter of finding out what results you hope for, but talking about what is realistic, what your priorities are, and what is best going to secure your future.
Litigation is not only about going to court, but also involves negotiating outside of court. When a solution can be negotiated rather than imposed by the court, you have a great deal more control over the outcome, both in terms of making sure it is acceptable to you and in terms of fine tuning the details to fit your situation.
Mediation and Mediation Support
Mediation is a process in which opposing parties attempt to reach an agreement outside of court with the assistance of a neutral third party. The mediator does not make decisions, but works with both parties to help them find common ground for agreement. The mediator helps the parties to explore a variety of possible solutions suggested either by the parties or by the mediator.
If one of our attorneys is acting as your mediator, we would ask that each party also have an attorney he or she can consult with for legal advice and who can prepare any legal documents that are needed.
Mediation Support refers to the role we play as your attorney when you are working with an outside mediator. Typically when mediating each party has an attorney, often in the background, to advise, draft documents, and support them through the process. In some cases the attorney may come with the client to the mediation sessions. If the mediation process breaks down, then we can step into a more active role as your litigation representative. If you are interested in having one of us act as your attorney while you work with a mediator, we would be happy to suggest the names of mediators we recommend.
Depending on the other parties/lawyers involved, it may be possible to bring a Cooperative approach to this litigation process, where both sides can agree to share information voluntarily, jointly hire experts, discuss mutually agreeable solutions, and engage in interest based negotiations.
Cooperative Law blends some elements from traditional litigation with some elements from Collaborative Divorce. The parties can choose which elements work for them. In a Cooperative case, the attorneys are not barred from going to court, but the emphasis is on working out a resolution outside of court.
The approach in a Cooperative Law case might vary from a simple agreement to try and be cooperative rather than uncooperative, to making specific agreements to focus on interests rather than power positions (see discussion under Collaborative Divorce), to use coaches, financial specialists or child specialists, or to bring in a mediator.
Collaborative Divorce is a method for managing conflict without a third party decision maker. We seek to help the parties handle their conflict without causing further damage to the relationship, and to help them transition their spouse/partner relationship into a new form of relationship, particularly where they need to be able to continue to function as co-parents.
A key distinction between litigation and Collaborative Divorce is that in litigation the negotiation is primarily power based, while in Collaboration the negotiation is primarily interest based. Power based negotiation is where the discussion primarily revolves around what the court is likely to do if we go to trial (what is the strength of each side's case). Interest based negotiation is where we instead focus on ways in which we can best satisfy the interests (main goals) of both parties.
In a collaborative divorce case:
- The focus is on providing a safe, peaceful and respectful process for both parties. We meet together to plan ways to resolve the issues. By approaching the issues as mutual problems to be resolved, we treat the issues as the problem rather than the other side.
- The parties are supported by a team of specialists. Collaborative teams typically include divorce coaches, financial planners, and child specialists. Other team members may be brought in as needed.
- Relationships are preserved to the extent possible. By developing skills in respectful negotiation, the parties are better prepared to continue to deal with each other in the future. This is particularly important when there are children involved, so that the parties can continue to co-parent effectively.
If you are interested in handling your divorce (or other family law action) through a Collaborative process, you will need to talk to the other party about this process and encourage him or her to find an attorney trained in Collaborative Law. We can supply a list of attorneys with whom we have working relationships, or names can be found on the King County Collaborative Law web site, www.kingcountycollab.org or www.respectfuldivorce.org.
Many people involved in divorces, paternity actions, or child support and parenting plan modifications cannot afford to hire an attorney to represent them. In the past, the only option has been working through the legal system alone or with the limited help available through volunteer legal programs.
Self Help legal services offer another option. By hiring us to assist you in representing yourself, you can purchase the level of assistance that you can afford rather than facing an all-or-nothing choice. You pay us only for the help you need. This could mean providing an hour of advice, drafting specific documents for you, assisting you through all the steps of your legal action, or stepping into the case briefly for limited representation (such as to appear for you at a specific motion hearing).
Note: If you hire us to assist you rather than represent you, you remain responsible for following case schedules, getting papers served, arguing in court, corresponding with other parties, or any other responsibilities that you have not hired your attorney to perform.
