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Frequently Asked Questions
Below are some answers to frequently asked questions concerning family law as well as links to some resources which clients have found useful in the past. If you have additional questions, please feel free to let us know.
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Collaborative Law
Ruggiero & Associates, P.C. is a proponent of this emerging method of dispute resolution. In essence, the collaborative process requires both parties and both of their attorneys to commit in writing that if the case does not settle amicably, the attorneys will both have to withdraw from representation before the parties take the matter to trial. Stated simply, a lawyer that agrees to the collaborative process can not earn trial fees in that particular case. Stated differently, the collaborative attorneys lose their respective clients to competitor divorce attorneys if settlement can not be reached. Since there is a natural incentive to keep a good client, this process theoretically motivates both attorneys to be part of the collaborative solution, not the competitive dissolution. For this process to work, it also takes total cooperation of the parties. For example, if, despite the attorneys' best efforts, one spouse insists on alienating the other spouse from the children, or the other spouse refuses to disclose all marital assets or income or to accept fair settlement suggestions, trial would seem inevitable. Similarly, if one or both of the attorneys do not negotiate in good faith and/or fail to have a similar sense of fairness and understanding as to how a judge would resolve the issues involved in that particular case, trial would also seem inevitable. The attorneys pledge to collaborate, not compete, so that court intervention is avoided, excessive attorney's fees are alleviated, and amicable resolution is achieved. It takes all four (4) participants to tango for this method to be successful, which is generally accomplished by a series of so-called "four-way meetings" at the office of one of the attorneys. Ruggiero & Associates, P.C. has embraced this concept of collaboration and cooperation well before the method was given a formal name just a few years ago.
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