"What is a divorce coach, and what role does the divorce coach play in a collaborative-divorce proceeding?"

A divorce coach is a trained mental-health professional who has been specially trained in collaborative family law and helps clients with decision-making and goal-setting. In a collaborative divorce, each party works with their own divorce coach to develop a plan of action. A divorce coach can help a person move beyond the high level of emotion which is often a stumbling block to resolving any divorce-related issues and to focus on achieving certain goals, whether lessening the emotional harm to children or encouraging a spouse to seek financial advice in preparation for being single. The coach can also provide effective problem-solving tools to reduce misunderstandings in communication and help create solutions to emotionally loaded legal issues.

Lori Barkus is a Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Law Mediator and Circuit Civil Mediator and is a member of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals as well as a member of the Board of Directors for the Collaborative Family Lawyers of South Florida. Her office is located in Weston, FL. This divorce attorney can be reached at (954) 349-7988. View her Divorce Magazine profile.