How To Have A Healthy Divorce

Deciding to end a relationship is never easy as it’s not just the emotional issues you need to worry about, it’s the practical ones too. It can be a really upsetting time for everyone, particularly if there are children involved.

Mental health matters can make things even more complicated for families going through one of the most difficult life experiences they face. That’s where family law experts who are collaboratively trained, such as Gordon Brown Law Firm’s Naomi Potter, can offer support. Naomi can help advise clients on alternative routes to dealing with differences in a face-to-face setting. Based in the Newcastle and Chester-le-Street offices, she helps people achieve a healthier divorce for all concerned through the collaborative law process.

Naomi is an accredited specialist with Resolution, a UK-wide group of family justice professionals who work with families and individuals to resolve issues in a constructive way. She works with the family law team at GBLF on matrimonial finance and divorce cases, as well as complex family and property matters. Naomi said: “Mental health and wellbeing is becoming increasingly important in family law cases. A family breakdown or disagreements between parties can take their toll on mental health and combined with uncertainties around money, it can be a recipe for disaster, sometimes leading to dependence on alcohol, drugs or gambling.

“I’ve had clients who have expressed feelings of anxiety and mental health issues because of litigation proceedings. It is our role as solicitors and advisors to ensure that clients are able to understand the proceedings and advice and more importantly, that they are able to process the information we give to them.”

“Sometimes clients give instructions based on their emotional feelings towards their former partner and these can sometimes be irrational or perplexing.

“As solicitors we need to be mindful as to someone’s mental state when advising them. A better way of achieving an agreement could be via a collaborative process.”

As part of this process, each party appoints their own collaboratively trained lawyer and they work things out together, face-to-face by way of four or five-way meetings. The method is client-focused and each person can set their own agenda on the issues they want to discuss at the meetings.

Naomi said: “The collaborative process means couples make a commitment not to go to Court and that can take some of the stress out of divorce. Each individual can make their own decisions and communicate better with each other as a result.

“It’s better for the children if they can see their parents working together to achieve an outcome and that in turn is better for the family. “As collaborative lawyers, we manage conflict and can involve others during the process as and when needed. This could be a family consultant, financial expert or collaborative counsel who make up the collaborative team.”

Naomi added that the collaborative process can usually prove to be a quicker and cheaper option than going to Court.

She said: “Divorce is an extremely stressful time for clients and therefore it is vital that they take care of themselves and that we, as solicitors look out for them too in the best way possible.”