Morecrofts’ Julie Waring says collaborative law may help separating celebrities

IN THE past few months, the media’s spotlight has shone on three of the biggest ever divorces to hit the showbiz world.

Formula One tycoon Bernie Ecclestone, Hollywood star Mel Gibson and now reality television favourites Katie Price and Peter Andre are heading to the courts to try and split their million, and in one case, billion pound fortunes.

These cases have the power to become extremely public due to these couples’ celebrity status, and it would have been advisable to choose others ways of dealing with their divorces.

One way would have been for them to engage in the collaborative law process, which would have involved each appointing their own specialist trained collaborative lawyer and arranging negotiations using a series of four way meetings – where both parties and their lawyers discuss matters together.

Dealing with a divorce like this can reduce distress that’s caused, which is a necessity when children are involved. All three cases do.

And although these marriages combined total more than 60 years, if they had put a pre-marriage agreement in place, there would be no need to open their family doors to the world’s media.

Only time and front pages will tell what the outcome is.