Sheldon E. Finman, P.A. | Attorney At Law

Call 239-215-4952 To Talk To A Lawyer Today

Sheldon E. Finman, P.A. | Attorney At Law
Email
Call

Dedicated To Helping Families
Through Difficult Legal Challenges

Florida Family Law Solutions That Lead To Peace, Not Strife

Most people feel that divorce is a messy, angry and hurtful process. It doesn’t have to be. You and your spouse can work together to divide your lives peaceably, and make decisions that will make your lives and your children’s lives much easier going forward. At Sheldon E. Finman, P.A., our practice uses problem-solving methods to create a divorce settlement that gives you and your spouse much more control over the end result than you would receive during a standard court divorce.

A Pioneer Of Cooperative Divorce

In the 1990s, Sheldon E. Finman emerged as a pioneer in the field of cooperative divorce. As Southwest Florida’s first mediator in 1983, he laid the groundwork for a more compassionate approach to divorce. Our firm has since dedicated itself to fostering a process that emphasizes collaboration over conflict. We have trained numerous attorneys, mediators, members of the judiciary, family therapists, and financial professionals in Lee County and throughout Florida, as well as the United States in these methods, promoting a culture of understanding and empathy within the legal community. Our commitment to cooperative divorce has helped transform how families navigate this challenging time, ensuring that the focus remains on preserving relationships and fostering a positive future.

What To Expect From Our Process

When you choose our team, you can expect a process centered on empathy and understanding. We begin with a consultation where we sit down with a consulting client, to discuss his or her needs and goals. If the consulting client seeks a bitter fight, we will suggest he or she hire another attorney. Our approach involves working closely with both parties and the other party’s attorney, to reach a resolution that respects everyone involved. While we aim to avoid court, it is not always possible. Our highest priority is to maintain a professional and non-adversarial stance. Our goal is to guide our clients through the process with empathy and firm for fairness approaches, ensuring that your family’s well-being remains a priority.

Why Our Approach Is Better For High Net Worth Individuals

For high net worth individuals, our cooperative and collaborative approaches offer significant advantages. Privacy and discreetness are paramount. Our process ensures that our client’s personal matters remain confidential by avoiding lengthy battles. Our client can save time, money, substantial inconvenience, lack of control of the outcome and significant harm to minor children. More importantly, our approach helps preserve relationships, which is crucial when children are involved. We focus on creating solutions that benefit the entire family, allowing our client to move forward with dignity, respect, and preserving family relationships. Our method not only protects your assets but also fosters a healthier future environment for all family members leading to potentially harmonious and better long-term outcomes.

Collaborative And Cooperative Divorce Lawyers

We use different methods of alternative dispute resolution:

  • Collaborative divorce: Both parties with the assistance of their attorneys and neutral mental health professional coach agree to put their efforts into finding common ground and use problem-solving techniques to resolve differences as a divorce settlement agreement is drawn up and a parenting plan is created. If a couple is unable to agree on a final settlement, their attorneys must withdraw from the case. The couple will be required to engage new lawyers in moving the divorce forward. It does not necessarily require to start the case over again, as a lot of the paperwork generated, including financial disclosures, are still involved.
  • Cooperative divorce: The process was created by Sheldon Finman and Honorable Hugh E. Starnes, Circuit Judge, in the 1990’s. Many other family law professionals helped to create this process. It is very similar to collaborative divorce, with the exception that if the couple cannot resolve their differences, the attorneys do not have to withdraw from the case; they can continue to litigate the divorce through the court system.

We use these two methods to help the client find ways to identify and solve differences amicably and to establish ways to keep and nurture the family bonds the parties have created which will never truly dissolve. Our law office is in Fort Myers, and we represent clients throughout Southwest Florida, including Cape Coral.

Divorce covers many aspects of the client’s life. Issues covered during a collaborative and in cooperative divorce process may include:

Our lawyers have seen the damage caused to families by the traditional adversarial divorce process. We have made it our mission to offer alternatives which will help people to achieve productive, restructured family lives afterwards.

Reach Out To Helpful Fort Myers Family Law Attorneys

Learn more about our problem-solving-based divorce services. Contact us at 239-215-4952 or send us an email for more information or to schedule an initial consultation.