“Collaborative Family Law” (CFL) is a new way to provide professional legal assistance to individuals who are in the midst of separation . A commitment is made that:

• Negotiations will be principled, honourable and respectful
• Issues will be resolved without going to court or threatening court action
• If either side proceed to court both lawyers will be disqualified from any further involvement in the case
• Both sides will openly exchange all important information
• The parties will be assisted in exploring as many options for settlement as possible
• The lawyers will help the parties to reach a settlement that best meets their goals and priorities
• If the CFL process is not successful for any reason (such as a failure of one of the parties to abide by the terms of the participation agreement or failing to disclose all financial information), resulting in the case proceeding to court, the participating collaborative lawyers will not litigate on behalf of the parties, and new lawyers would be retained for that purpose.