FAQ’s
What is the definition of divorce coaching? The International Coaching
Federation (ICF) defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking
and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional
potential. The American Bar Association defines Divorce Coaching as: “A flexible,
goal-oriented process designed to support, motivate, and guide people
going through divorce to help them make the best possible decisions for
their future, based on their particular interests, needs, and concerns.”
Is Divorce Coaching a confidential process?
Your privacy is of utmost importance to me. I vow to protect my clients’ confidential information. If you are represented, I will work with your attorney to ensure our work together remains confidential.
Can a CDC Certified Divorce Coach®, a Certified Divorce Specialist (CDC®), Legal Document Assistant (LDA), or Mediator provide legal advice?
No, I CANNOT, as a Certified Divorce Coach, a Certified Divorce Specialist, an LDA, or a Mediator, provide any legal advice. I am NOT an attorney. Prior to taking any legal action, I encourage all of my clients to consult with an attorney experienced in the appropriate area of law relevant to their situation. I strongly urge all family law clients to protect their interests by seeking legal advice regarding their family law case/situation. I can assist my clients with referrals to attorneys who can provide legal advice regarding their matter.
Why should I consider using a Divorce Coach if I already have an attorney?
Family law attorneys have expertise in the law. Your attorney will apply the specific facts of your case to the law, will prepare your court documents, manage statutory deadlines and prepare all paperwork associated with the case-related deadlines, prepare formal discovery (if appropriate and necessary), represent you in court, represent you outside of court (meet and confer, settlement negotiations, mediations, and four-way conferences), and most importantly provide you with legal advice to weigh your legal options and understand your rights under the law.
Beyond these very important responsibilities, there are many tasks that need to be accomplished in order for these processes to be carried out successfully. As your Divorce Coach, I provide compassionate guidance while honoring and supporting the roles of your other divorce professionals, helping you get the most out of these relationships while saving time and money. A Divorce Coaches assist with information and document organization for your legal team; works to outline and develop your legal questions, wants, needs, and goals; and provides you with tools to present your custody, support, financial, and property information in an organized, efficient, and time-saving manner to your attorney. Think of it this way, your Divorce Coach is the bridge between the client and the attorney/legal team.
What is mediation?
According to the United States District Court, Northern District of California, mediation is a flexible, non-binding, confidential process in which a neutral mediator facilitates settlement negotiations. The informal session typically begins with presentations of each side’s view of the case, through counsel or through clients directly. The goal of mediation is to support family law parties to work through their areas of conflict, to increase understanding of each party’s needs, to develop creative and outside-of-the-box options for the parties, to build the groundwork for informed decision making, and ultimately resolve the issues by agreement with each party leaving the process with their needs met.
Why would family law parties consider mediation?
There are many reasons to elect mediation over litigation—the emotional and financial cost—to name a few. Mediation fosters and promotes the parties’ relationship, provides parties with direct rather than indirect input into agreements, provides a base of understanding for the overall needs of both parties, and facilitates creative solutions that would not otherwise be available in a litigation model. California family law trials cost tens of thousands of dollars due to formal discovery processes (depositions, document demands, interrogatories, and inspections), trial preparation, trial attendance, and post-trial processes. A single day of trial requires one (1) to three (3) days of trial prep, each day costing $3,000 or more in addition to the pre- and post-trial processes outlined above. Family law trials can cost as little as $10,000 and can exceed $100,000 in complex matters. Mediating your family law case permits both parties to have input into the ultimate resolution of their case, allows for outside-of-the-box solutions, and saves the parties thousands of dollars in legal fees. Mediation strives to enable both parties to walk away from the divorce process, meeting their needs and wants while preserving emotional and financial well-being.
What is the difference between a Divorce Coach and a Therapist?
A therapist focuses on mental health functioning, and the definition of therapy is the practice of mental health counseling. Counseling includes behavior modification, consultation, client-centered advocacy, crisis intervention, and the provision of needed information and education to clients, when using methods of a psychological nature to evaluate, assess, diagnose, treat, and prevent emotional and mental disorders and dysfunctions (whether cognitive, affective, or behavioral), behavioral disorders, sexual dysfunction, alcoholism, and/or substance abuse. Therapists identify underlying emotional issues to resolve problematic beliefs, behaviors, relationship issues, and feelings resulting from trauma or family experiences. A Divorce Coach focuses on helping a client move forward and provides tools for managing the broad range of emotions and experiences that surface during a divorce. A Divorce Coach connects their clients with resources and guides them through essential processes such as planning, organizing, goal development, and decision making regarding the client’s current situation, their children, living situation, the approach to their family law matter, and their future.
Is there a financial benefit to using a Divorce Coach?
As a family law paralegal with over 30 years of behind-the-scenes experience, I have insight into processes that can and will save you money in divorce. I highly recommend that my clients seek the advice of an attorney regarding their legal rights and obligations. As your Divorce Coach, I work with my clients to develop their questions, gather their information, outline their requests, and structure their case-related goals. This approach provides my clients with focus throughout the process from start to finish while minimizing attorneys’ fees by saving their attorney’s valuable time for the more complicated aspects of the case.
