Discovery in Collaborative Divorces

A collaborative divorce is a voluntary out-of-court process involving a series of meetings between you, your spouse, and your lawyers, creating a collaborative team. These meetings aim to allow your collaborative team and potential specialists, such as a financial neutral or parent coach, to negotiate, identify goals, and resolve all aspects of your divorce. Ultimately, the end goal is to avoid litigation and have a mutually agreeable settlement. During the first meeting, you and your spouse will sign a participation agreement in which you legally commit to using the collaborative process to resolve your divorce. If this process does not work out, your lawyers are required to withdraw, and you will have to obtain new counsel.

In Illinois, the law governing collaborative divorce is the Collaborative Process Act, 750 ILCS 90/. Specifically, 750 ILCS 90/40 governs the voluntary, informal disclosure of information related to the collaborative process. 

Discovery in divorce can include gathering information about finances, assets, or debts through documents such as bank statements, credit card statements, retirement documents, tax returns, and employment records. However, the discovery process in collaborative cases looks different than discovery in a traditional litigated divorce, as both parties will voluntarily exchange information and documents. The concept here is that you work on obtaining information as a team, and the lawyers involved will tailor their requests more informally, expecting you all to work together to exchange the documents. This process can be less costly and time-consuming than traditional formal discovery. 

Typically, the collaborative team will all attend a meeting for discovery where they discuss what information they need and what they don’t, decide who will tender certain information, and overall collaborate so that the entire team understands the discovery plan. Unlike traditional litigated divorce discovery, the entire process is done through informal meetings and communication rather than discovery requests and court hearings. It is important to note this process is voluntary and based on trust of disclosure, so if issues arise, you cannot file court orders such as a motion to compel.

Another point to mention is that unlike a traditional litigated divorce case, in which you are bound by the Supreme Court Rules of discovery and timelines, this is all done on a good faith basis with agreeable deadlines. 

Collaborative teams can add a financial neutral for cases involving more complex financial situations, such as when someone owns a business or one spouse was not necessarily involved in the family financials and now needs to become educated about the marital estate. A financial neutral is a specialist who is retained by an agreement of the team to fulfill their designated role in the case. In the discovery process, a financial neutral will help your collaborative team gather financial information and may even create organized reports. These reports can help you and your spouse fully understand your finances, make you aware of any financial issues you may need to address, and overall educate both parties to develop a good financial plan for your divorce.

It is important to have a discovery process in your collaborative divorce so that you and your spouse fully understand your financial situation, assets, property division, debts, and other relevant information needed for a fair and informed settlement. The purpose of the discovery process is to provide transparency so that the team can work together and negotiate a fair settlement. However, for this to work as intended, there has to be trust and full disclosure. 

For spouses who want to get a divorce by working as a team and avoiding litigation, a collaborative divorce may be for you. You may contact The Law Offices of Erin M. Wilson LLC for a consultation where our team can help guide you through the process of a collaborative divorce and answer any questions you may have along the way.

NOTICE: This blog is intended solely for informational purposes and should not be construed as providing legal advice. Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have regarding this blog post.