Your divorce or child custody case will be as difficult as one or both of you allow it to be. 

A quick internet search yields unlimited stories of adversarial child custody cases.  The family court system facilitates cases that go on for years, even decades.  Some end in tragedy.

Parents who are not or can not be together, owe it to their children to keep their lives as peaceful, and as normal as possible during any household changes, legal proceedings and coparenting. 

As a couple you can co-write and file your own parenting plan with the courts.  That idea intimidates many parents, even though it could save a lot of money.  It also helps parents feel they are in control of the process at a time when emotions can run high.

 Collaborative law practitioners in the San Francisco Bay area:    

• Collaborative Family Law Professionals of Marin
• Collaborative Lawyers of Alameda and Contra Costa
• Collaborative Practice of San Mateo County
• Collaborative Practice East Bay
• Collaborative Practice Group of Contra Costa
• Collaborative Practice Silicon Valley
• Mediation & Collaborative Practice of Ariel B. Winger, Berkeley
• Resolving Conflict through Understanding, Larry Rosen JD
• Ruben Law Firm, San Francisco
• San Francisco Bay Area Collaborative Practice Group
• Unmani Sarasvati, JD, Mediator and Collaborative Attorney, Oakland
• Weiler & Borst, LLP, Certified Family Law Specialist, San Ramon

• Equal custody advocates offer help to unmarried and divorcing parents