People often ask how Cooperative Family Law came to be. The honest answer is that it grew out of frustration, and a conviction that there had to be a better way to help families through one of the hardest moments of their lives.
What We Kept Seeing
Between us, we've spent decades in courtrooms. We watched too many divorces turn into wars that left both spouses poorer, more bitter, and, worst of all, left children caught in the middle. The traditional adversarial model too often took two people who simply needed to separate and turned them into opponents. We knew the damage that did, and we didn't want to keep being part of it.
The Idea
We asked a simple question: what if both spouses could keep their own attorneys, and all the protection that brings, while committing, in writing, to resolve things respectfully and out of court? Not mediation, where neither side has a lawyer at the table. Not the collaborative model, where attorneys must withdraw if it fails. Something that kept the protection but removed the needless conflict and risk.
Building It in Western Montana
We developed that structure into Cooperative Family Law and began offering it to Missoula and Bitterroot Valley families. The results spoke for themselves: faster resolutions, lower costs, and, most meaningfully, parents who could still co-parent civilly when it was over. You can read how the process works on our How It Works page.
Why It Matters to Us
We're proud of the cases we've won in court, but we're proudest of the families who walked away from divorce with their dignity and their relationships with their children intact. That's why we built this, and it's why we keep doing it.