StartWhere every case begins
Agree to the process
Before anything else, everyone agrees to how this will work: full honesty, and no running to court while you’re in it. Then you sign the agreement that makes those ground rules binding.
- Review the ground rules
- Sign the participation agreement
Identify interests and issues
You get clear on what actually matters to each of you, and sort what needs handling right now from what gets decided at the end.
- Interests & goals
- Temporary & interim issues
- Final issues
Gather information
Everyone puts their cards on the table. You get the facts you need (financial, legal, practical) so the decisions rest on reality instead of guesses.
- Be transparent
- Get educated
Generate options
Before anyone picks anything, we lay out a range of ways this could go: what a court would likely do, what the two of you design yourselves, and what actually works in real life.
- Law model
- Client-generated model
- Real-world model
Evaluate options
We walk each option through its real consequences and weigh how well it meets what matters most to your family.
- What are the consequences?
- What meets the most interests?
Negotiate and finalize
You reach an agreement you can both live with, put it in plain writing, and sign the final documents together at a closing meeting.
- Agree on the best option
- Memorialize the agreement
- Sign at the closing meeting
FinishA resolution you helped design
It’s a roadmap, not a contract. Your path can adapt as things get clearer.
Real cases don’t always march straight down the list. You might loop back to gather more information, or bring in a neutral to get unstuck on a single issue. The order holds; the pace is yours. (Your lawyers handle the legal drafting and filing along the way. This is your view of it.)
collabfacts.com — plain facts about collaborative divorce, from a Texas divorce lawyer with nothing to sell you.