Washington Collaborative Divorce Lawyer In Lakewood

Settle Your Divorce Through Negotiation, Not Litigation

The Lakewood, Washington collaborative divorce lawyers at Truce Law can help you file for divorce peacefully and amicably. With the collaborative divorce process, you’ll settle your divorce at the negotiating table, not the courtroom. We can even help you file your divorce paperwork electronically or by mail, eliminating the need to ever step foot in a courtroom. This can save you and your former partner money and time.

Truce Law is a Lakewood, Washington collaborative divorce law firm skilled in the art of negotiation. We work to help you find solutions to some of the biggest questions that can come up during divorce. How will you split assets and debts? Where will your children live? How will parenting time be split? The collaborative divorce lawyers in Lakewood, Washington at Truce Law can help you find solutions to these tough questions, without the need to fight it out in court. We have helped many couples reach peaceful and amicable divorce settlements, allowing them to file for a non-contested divorce without ever having to go to a courtroom or stand before a judge. Contact the Lakewood, Washington collaborative divorce lawyers at Truce Law today to begin.

Justin W. Aanenson, Attorney

How Collaborative Divorce Can Help with Military Divorce in Lakewood, Washington

Joint Base Lewis-McChord is considered Lakewood, Washington’s largest employer. If you are in the military or if your partner is in the military and you are thinking about divorce, the collaborative divorce process might be right for you. Military divorces bring their own unique challenges and laws.

What are some key concerns that might arise in a military divorce, and how can collaborative divorce help? Here are some things to consider:

• Filing for Divorce When a Partner is Overseas or Deployed. If your partner is overseas or deployed, you may not be able to file for divorce right away. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act of 2010 section 521 allows a deployed or overseas person to request that divorce proceedings be delayed until they return from deployment. If you file divorce paperwork while your partner is overseas or deployed, your former partner could reopen the case when he or she returns from deployment. With collaborative divorce, your partner agrees to the collaborative process and signs the collaborative agreement, allowing you to file for divorce electronically or by mail, and eliminating the need for a court hearing.
• Deciding Where to File. Military families may reside in many states at once. You may live in one state while your partner is deployed or stationed in another or abroad, and you and your partner may live in one state but call another state home. You may have the right to file for divorce in multiple states, though you ultimately can only file for divorce in one. A collaborative divorce lawyer in Lakewood, Washington at Truce Law can help you decide where to file for divorce and work collaboratively with you and your former partner, to find the divorce process that’s best for you.
• The Uniformed Services Former Spouse Protection Act. Under this law, a former military spouse may be entitled to receive a portion of their partner’s retirement pay, access to military medical benefits, and commissary benefits. You must have been married for at least 10 years to be covered under this act. If you are in the process of dividing assets, a collaborative divorce lawyer in Lakewood, Washington can help you and your former spouse amicably and peacefully negotiate the division of benefits. While the law governs the right to benefits, it doesn’t specify how benefits should be split. This is subject to state law and negotiation.
• Custody. When one partner frequently deploys overseas, child custody and visitation can get even more complicated, and standard rules about moving may not apply. The collaborative divorce lawyers in Lakewood, Washington at Truce Law can help you address the unique co-parenting challenges that can arise when one or both parents is in the military.

These are just a few of the unique challenges military families face in divorce. If you are thinking of filing for divorce, or want to file for non-contested military divorce, the collaborative divorce lawyers in Lakewood, Washington at Truce Law may be able to help you.

Collaborative Divorce vs. Contested Divorce

In many ways, the collaborative divorce process is like the contested divorce process. With collaborative divorce, both you and your former partner will still each hire your own lawyer to represent you. With collaborative divorce, you’ll still need to file your divorce paperwork with the court. What makes collaborative divorce different from contested divorce is that with a collaborative divorce, your differences are negotiated outside of court, while with a contested divorce, your differences are brought before a judge. If you choose to use the collaborative divorce process, you and your former partner will sign a “collaborative participation agreement,” in which you agree to settle your disagreements outside of court.

Truce Law is a collaborative divorce law firm in Lakewood, Washington that can help you negotiate your divorce settlement outside of court. Our skilled divorce negotiators can help you and your former partner iron out the finer points of your parenting plan and make decisions about how to divide assets and debts. We can also connect you with a team of experts, like financial planners, parenting coaches, and counselors, who can help guide you as you make some of the toughest decisions of your life. The best part is that because you are not trying to prepare for a court battle, you can still save money while bringing the best team to the table to help you reach an agreement that works.

The choices you make in your divorce settlement can affect your financial and personal life for years to come. You cannot change a divorce agreement once it has been finalized and it can be very tough to change a parenting plan. The collaborative divorce lawyers in Lakewood, Washington at Truce Law can help you negotiate answers to some of the toughest questions that come up in divorce in a peaceful way.

Risks of Contested Divorce in Lakewood, Washington

If you take your divorce case to court, there is the risk that the judge will make a final decision neither you nor your former partner wants. For example, if you cannot decide on what to do with shared property, the judge could order the sale of your home. If the real estate market isn’t strong, this could leave you and your former partner selling the house at a loss. With the collaborative divorce process in Lakewood, Washington, you and your former partner are in control. You can work with your collaborative divorce lawyers to find solutions to some of the toughest challenges in divorce. At Truce Law, we are skilled at the fine art of negotiation, collaboration, and compromise. We take the time to learn about what each of you wants most, and work to find solutions so that you reach a divorce agreement that is fair. There are many creative ways to co-parent, divide property, and plan if you share a retirement account. Truce Law is a collaborative divorce law firm in Lakewood, Washington that can help you.

Collaborative Divorce Can Prepare You for Your Co-Parenting Journey in Lakewood, Washington

How you negotiate your co-parenting plan, in many ways, sets the tone for how you’ll co-parent your children. Collaborative divorce gives you the opportunity to put sound plans in place to shift from marital cohabitation to separate co-parenting. Research indicates that children are happier and healthier when their parents divorce on good terms and where strife is kept at a minimum. The collaborative divorce process gives you and your former partner the opportunity to peacefully reach a new arrangement for your family that both of you can stand behind.

Don’t leave your parenting decisions for a judge to decide. Couples who take their parenting disputes to court face the risk that a judge will send them to mediation. You could find yourself at the negotiating table anyway but having to hire more professionals to help. With the collaborative divorce process, you, your former partner, and your divorce lawyers sit down privately to iron out the finer points of your parenting plan.

Decisions about parenting are highly personal. The collaborative divorce lawyers in Lakewood, Washington at Truce Law are here to help you create a parenting plan that works.

The Benefits of the Collaborative Process

Collaborative divorce can save you time and money. It also can protect your privacy. When couples take their divorce case to trial, anything said in court ends up on the public record. Collaborative divorce lets you file for a non-contested divorce, saving you time and money. It also offers other important benefits, like less stress, more peace of mind, and the opportunity to start your new life on the right foot. If you don’t want to fight or face litigation, reach out to the Lakewood, Washington collaborative divorce lawyers at the Truce Law firm today. The best part is that Truce Law can file your divorce paperwork electronically or by mail, eliminating the need for you to ever step foot inside a courtroom.