Once each party has hired a collaboratively-trained lawyer, they will all sign a collaborative participation agreement. The process starts when the participation agreement is signed. The agreement says, among other things, that:
#*no party will commence a court action while in the process;,#*each party will make full disclosure of their financial information and circumstances;,#*all communications between the parties are confidential, and will stay that way until a written separation agreement is signed;,#*none of the lawyers can represent their clients if the collaborative process fails and the parties go to court;,#*each of the lawyers must terminate the process if their client refuses to provide necessary financial disclosure; , and,#*the parties will make their best efforts to communicate with each other in a respectful manner.
==Next steps in collaborative processes==