Have you ever experienced a case where somebody was clearly using the collaborative process to delay the divorce outcome?

Yes. There are people who believe they can use the collaborative process to exact a better result than what they would get through litigation, but I don’t know if it’s necessarily the case that their entire goal is to stall the process. Certainly people with personality disorders who don’t want to be told what to do by a judge might think they can control the process in collaborative divorce, and sometimes their personalities get in the way of settlement.

Founding partner of McGaughey & Spirito in Redondo Beach, California, Joe Spirito has been practicing family law since 1982 and is currently serving as secretary of the Los Angeles County Bar’s Family Law Section.