The Issue of Child Custody in Bucks County...and Why Mediation and Collaborative Law Are the Only Answers

NEWTOWN, PA, February 03, 2011 (Press-News.org) I've been asked by a lot of people recently, who don't know yet about the type of divorce law that Timby Hunt practices, "why is collaborative divorce and divorce mediation the best way to deal with child custody issues, in Bucks County?"

First of all, in the collaborative process, we don't call it custody, we call it parenting, because that's really what clients are doing...their parenting their children, just from two different households.

What's really beneficial is that clients don't have to talk to the attorney about parenting - in terms of the schedule - as to when the children will be at Mom or Dad's because, in collaborative law, they can work with a child specialist instead. The child specialist is in tune with the children's unique emotions about the situation and they know what to say to make them feel safe and secure. The particular therapy that is employed is based on how old the child is.

The other thing that has recently come up is, even with divorce mediation, the child specialist has been helpful to the parents without the children. I had a case where the parents had not told the children about their decision to divorce and were unsure as to what was the best way to do that. The child specialist was able to give them some ideas based on the boy's ages: these included "what would be an appropriate time to say it" and "what was a good way to break the news that Mom and Dad were getting a divorce". We were also able to cover what to do after that conversation. The clients came back and were happy to inform us that using the child specialist, as part of a collabrative approach to their divorce, had been extremely helpful. Case in point...having a divorce in Bucks County can be made very easy on the children and this is why many divorcing couples from Bucks County come to us.

The other benefits I see divorce mediation and collaborative law having are that, even though there is a divorce, the parents will be able to decide on the children's schedule and activities...and not a judge, who knows nothing about them. It's "reality-based" parenting as opposed to having to make a quick decision in court. And I really do think that the children benefit from seeing that their parents have put them first by choosing either divorce mediation or collaborative law for their Bucks County divorce issues.

Tracy Timby is a partner at Timby Hunt Attorneys at Law and specializes in Collaborative Divorce and Divorce Mediation in Bucks and Montgomery Counties (Pennsylvania.)

Website: http://www.timbyhunt.com