Map of the Collaborative Process
Stage 2: Information Gathering
Tasks:
- Identify issues
- Develop factual background:
- Financial (income and expenses, estate, valuations, real world limits, etc.)
- Parenting (children’s needs/concerns, circumstances)
- Develop legal background:
- Legal model context – range of possible outcomes
- Develop emotional background:
- Family/system dynamics
- Emotional state of each party and relevant others
- Develop interests:
- What’s important to each party and their family
Typical Chronology:
- Team phone conference before each joint meeting to prepare agenda, discuss status
- 4-7 way meetings to create information gathering plan
- If Child Specialist, parties and coaches meet with Child Specialist to contract regarding scope and process of Child Specialists’ work, create plan for information gathering and reporting.
- Child Specialist meets with children and gathers information from pertinent sources
- Parties work with Financial Specialist to gather information
- 2-3 way meetings (Party-Coach-Attorney) to develop interests
- 4-6 way meeting (Parties-Coaches-Attorneys) to further clarify interests
- Attorneys meet to plan for legal model presentation
- 4-6 way meeting (Parties-Attorneys-Coaches) for legal model presentation
- 4-7 way meetings to present, review and understand factual information that has been gathered
- Party-professional and team debriefings after each meeting
- Prepare and circulate minutes after each meeting
