About Ginger
My commitment to you:
Collaborative Divorce will bring more peace, joy and ease to your life.
Are you feeling fear of financial insecurity? Sad about the loss of your family as you knew it? This is where I come in. I am a Collaborative Divorce lawyer committed to you and your family’s financial, emotional and legal health. I began my legal career in 1982 with a mission to empower women. My mission expanded immediately when my first client, a man, was able to make financial amends to his former wife. My mission now is to serve families, all genders and all types of families. My sacred task is to contribute to your and your family’s divorce in a way that allows you all to experience more peace, joy and ease in your lives.
When people look back on their Collaborative Divorce process, they know their decisions made sense at the time. They are more likely to honor their agreements and consider new ones than if a judge had told them what to do. Children benefit from co-parents who get along. Spouses who went their separate ways are free to create new relationships.
I have helped approximately 262 couples end their marriages without going to court. They created durable agreements using a process that both they and their partner were involved in. I was hired by at least one of the partners and often collaborated with other divorce professionals and the other partner. By satisfying needs and interests of the people involved, many families created win-win solutions.
All win-win divorces address 3 issues and my experience follows:
1. Financial
I have been the sole owner of my Washington law firm since 1982. I value financial solvency. Collaborative Divorce attorneys address financial health, which affects physical, emotional and spiritual health as well.
2. Emotional
I started receiving both professional and peer support for my emotional, financial and relational challenges in 1981. I know that making change requires time, intention and resources. I am grateful to witness and support others as they change their lives. I meditate, move and participate in spiritual communities, which gives me the energy to be present with and of service to others.
3. Legal
I have been an Attorney and Counselor at Law for over 44 years. I offer both knowledge and compassion. Collaborative Divorce attorneys make our legal system more understandable to people who have little or no experience in it.
I do my work out of court, because the people involved are the ones who know what they need. Collaborative Divorce attorneys create structure so that people can create enough safety to talk about their needs. We set ground rules and prepare agendas for meetings. We make sure people are ready to engage in discussions before we have those conversations.
Since conflict is a normal part of life, Collaborative Divorce attorneys teach conflict management. We practice and model skills like speaking and listening respectfully. We normalize feelings. We offer breaks and support a pace that works for everyone.
By encouraging honesty and transparency, Collaborative Divorce attorneys help each person not only express themselves; but also, they encourage listening to others, so that everyone feels seen and heard. Once people feel seen and heard, they often become willing move forward. Step by step, people turn new possibilities into mutually beneficial agreements.
I am a Collaborative Divorce attorney because I enjoy working with a team of interdisciplinary professionals dedicated to supporting whole families. Our teams consist of at least two collaborative divorce lawyers and ideally two neutral professionals, a financial analyst and a divorce coach. With our guidance, people navigate the financial, emotional and legal aspects of their relationship transition. We do our best to support couples to move through their process as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible. We talk about financial and emotional costs often so that people stay aware of them. We encourage mindfulness of what, where, how and why clients and their professional team are spending their time and energy.
Collaborative Divorce attorneys help people divorce with professional support. Some people are able to support themselves with discussions over the “kitchen table.” If people have a home and/or retirement accounts and/or kids, I strongly recommend that people get independent legal advice before signing their final agreements. I make this recommendation because changing the financial division of assets and debts after a divorce is finalized is hard to do unless there was fraud involved. Parenting Plans and child support orders have consequences as well. The time to educate yourself about legal ramifications of documents is before you sign them.
Although there is no “right” way to divorce, I recommend people hire independent collaborative divorce lawyers to get information and advice. People can start with one process, perhaps mediation, and change to another, perhaps Collaborative Divorce If and when people begin their divorce process, my hope is that they find professionals who listen to what they need and either satisfy their needs or refer them to someone who can.
I believe that a good divorce allows for satisfying relationships with family members and with new people. Whether people transition from spouses to co-parents, or go their separate ways, my vision is that they do so feeling free, confident and satisfied.
Credentials
| 1982 | Joined the Washington State Bar Association |
| 1990 | Trained in Divorce and Parenting Mediation |
| 2003 | Educated about Collaborative Divorce Law |
| 2006-2007 | Chaired King County Collaborative Law’s Family Law Practice Group |
| 2006 | Co-founded Cascadia Collaborative Divorce Practice Group |
| 2020 | Joined Collaborative Professionals of Washington |
Experience
In my 44 years of divorce work, I have helped over 90% of my clients create out-of-court agreements. With my professional advice and the input of others, they found ways to cope with the stress of divorce, which is second only to death of a spouse on an oft-quoted list of life events. My calm and reassuring presence served them. With encouragement and support for acting as respectfully and honestly as possible, couples created agreements they could live with.