How well do you know your spouse? This question may hold the answer to the type divorce you should choose. You want your Oklahoma divorce to be effective, with an accurate and equitable division of property and a reasonable child custody and support agreement. You also do not want to spend down all of your marital assets with interminable courtroom litigation. In choosing the form you divorce will take, you need to determine in you and your spouse can collaborate in your divorce settlement.

If you both can be reasonable, and are willing to engage in good faith negotiations, aimed at arriving at a fair and equitable property division or understand how to create a workable parenting plan that will accommodate both of your schedules, a collaborative divorce could be a good option.

In a collaborative divorce, you work with your spouse to craft an agreement. This is generally superior to a litigated outcome, where a judge imposes a decree and you have little choice but to accept.

However, if one of the parties to a collaborative divorce insists on dominating the proceedings or attempting to intimidate the other party, chances are the process will fail and you will be forced back to the courtroom.

This is why knowing how your spouse will behave is important. You want to begin with process that will succeed and avoid the stress, wasted time and additional expense of starting over.

This element of you divorce should be part of your initial discussions with your attorney and it will help you determine whether litigation, mediation or collaborate divorce is right for you.