Divorce Options Presentation to FACP

Introduction of Presenters

What Is Divorce Options?

Divorce Options is an informative presentation originally created by California Collaborative Professionals to educate the public about the nuts and bolts of the divorce process, as well as the procedural options that are available to achieve a divorce in FL. The class has three major components:

Overview of legal, financial, and emotional aspects of divorce.
Overview of the process options available to achieve a divorce in FL, including uncontested divorce, mediation, collaborative law, and litigation.
Overview of the pleadings, discovery, and legal issues implicated in divorce cases.

The class provides a neutral overview of all available process options to educate the public, with the hopes that the viewers attending the class will clearly see the superior benefits of non-litigation, particularly collaborative law.

The class is taught by local collaborative professionals who have met certain credentialing requirements.
All classes are held remotely so that class attendees can attend from any location.
Members of the public can register to attend the class through a statewide website portal.

Explain CPCAL’s licensing compliance requirements for FACP

Local practice group that wants to teach the class must execute a sub-license that affirms their understanding of the statewide licensing requirement
Each individual professional who wants to teach the class has to meet certain standardized credentialing requirements.
Whichever practice group the presenter is presenting for will have 2 liaisons, and the liaisons will make sure the presenters are qualified and will upload the presenters forms into CPCal’s shared folder to show that the presenters have met the qualifications.
Another requirement of CPCal is that no one can record the presentation.

DO Presenter Qualifications

Requirements include:

Membership in the IACP and in any local collaborative practice group.
Completion of the Collaborative Law Basic Training Course
Completion of 1 collaborative case as a professional team member or notetaker.
Observe 2 Divorce Options® Workshops
30 hrs of conflict resolution training and 15 hrs advanced collaborative training or other qualified training. If certified as a mediator in Florida of the 40 hours course 30 goes to conflict resolution and 10 towards the 15 advanced, attending practice group or FACP webinars may suffice to fill in the blanks

Current use in Florida

The FACP has created a statewide registration website that can be used by members of the public to register for the class

Each group can pick the dates/times each month for when they present.
Each group that is presenting will also need to set up a group Zoom account for the workshops.
When a person registers, the zoom link will automatically be sent to them.
During the workshop, at least one of the presenters will need to make note of the attendees
Each liaison will need to schedule the presenters to attend, usually just a couple of emails leading up to each workshop.

Benefits to FACP and to practice groups

FACP is Florida’s statewide organization of lawyers, financial, and mental health professionals whose mission is to guide families to peaceful divorce using the Collaborative Divorce Process.

Our vision is to create a culture in which the Collaborative Process is the prevailing method for the resolution of disputes beginning with family law and evolving into all other areas of law.

This DO program furthers both the mission and the vision of FACP by:

Educating the public about the collaborative process
Providing a uniform process for educating the public about collaborative
Reaching a larger target audience that uniquely need these services
Allowing local practice groups to be in charge of their own marketing within the DO process
Assisting local practice groups in getting local clerks and judges on board with promoting the collaborative process and the DO program specifically

Through all of the above, this program could revolutionize FACP’s public education efforts.