Join the Credentialing Class of 2018!

Applications for the Collaborative Divorce Texas 2018 Master Credentialed and Credentialed Collaborative Professional class are due August 31, 2017. The application, requirements and FAQs/Instructions are all found on the CDT website under the Credentialing Tab. The new class of Master Credentialed and Credentialed Collaborative Professionals will be announced at the Collaborative Law Course in March 2018. Achievement of this designation demonstrates a commitment to the highest standards of collaborative practice.

All Credentialed Collaborative Professionals must satisfy the rigorous standards of education and training, demonstrate significant collaborative case experience, and pass a confidential peer reference process. Master Credentialed Collaborative Professionals must have additional case experience (exceeding that required for Credentialing) and provide notable leadership and service to the collaborative community.

It is the goal of Collaborative Divorce Texas for every one of our members to become credentialed.

Although the requirements and application process are demanding, they are objective. If you meet the requirements, you will be credentialed. The Credentialing Committee asks that you be diligent in completing your application. Read the Requirements, Application and FAQs/Instructions carefully before submitting your application. Due to the painstaking review of each application, the Committee asks that you do not apply until you meet the criteria or your application is complete.

Perhaps the most burdensome aspect of application for credentialing is submission of redacted signed Collaborative Law Participation Agreements to meet the case experience requirement. The only way for the Credentialing Committee to qualify a case as collaborative is to review and verify that the case was conducted pursuant to a signed Collaborative Law Participation Agreement, which includes language that the collaborative lawyer is disqualified from appearing before a tribunal to represent a party in a proceeding related to the collaborative family law matter. The Participation Agreement must be the Collaborative Law Participation Agreement signed by the lawyers and clients. If in your geographic area, the neutrals also sign this Lawyer Agreement, meaning there is only one Participation Agreement for the entire professional team, then that agreement should be submitted. If you are in a geographic area in which Neutral Professional Agreements are signed in addition to the Participation Agreement signed by the lawyers and the clients, you will need to obtain from the lawyers on the case their Participation Agreement. Neutral Participation Agreements alone are not accepted.

You need to exercise due diligence in locating the signed Lawyer Participation Agreement for a qualifying case. Meaning, you must procure the Lawyer Agreement even if it is not located in your personal files or is not in your possession. In order for a case to qualify for credentialing, you must show the Credentialing Committee that a Lawyer Participation Agreement was signed. Some options for locating the Lawyer Participation Agreement include: contacting each team member on the case to track down the signed copy, working as a group to identify and provide the signed copy to each other, or contacting the court if the Lawyer Participation Agreement was routinely filed with the Notice of Collaborative Law Procedures (these filings are found in the district court public records, usually online).

The Committee will only qualify a case without a signed Lawyer Participation Agreement if, after completing due diligence, you swear that all signed copies of the Lawyer Participation Agreement are unavailable due to:

1. Change in employment prohibiting access to the files;
2. Retirement of team member(s);
3. Death of team member(s);
4. Destruction pursuant to written document destruction policy; and/or
5. Destruction by natural disaster

If a case meets the above criteria, then you may submit a Verification in Lieu of Participation Agreement instead of the signed Lawyer Participation Agreement. The Verification in Lieu of Participation Agreement Form may be found on the CDT website under the Credentialing Tab. You must complete and sign a Verification for any case you submit without a signed Lawyer Participation Agreement. The inclusion of a completed Verification does not automatically guarantee that such case will be counted toward the required number of cases.

You must attend one CDT Advanced Interdisciplinary Training in the last 5 years of application to meet the credentialing requirement.

We look forward to another stellar class of Master Credentialed and Credentialed Professionals as CDT continues to innovate and lead the collaborative movement.