The International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (IACP) has just received one of, if not the highest honor: a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. Advocates and professionals trained in this method of family law continuously and routinely speak about its benefits — the way it promotes respect of all parties, its ability to maintain civility in and out of the courtroom, and how it encourages empathy and understanding amongst all parties. 

On this episode of Divorce, Healthy!, we respect the National Adoption Month of November with bring in Ashley Michael, one of only 25 recognized adoption specialist attorneys in North Carolina and co-owner - managing attorney of adoption firm Michael & Russell, PLLC, joins her partner and co-owner host Ashley-Nicole Russell to discuss the need for respect and contempt, their success with collaborative law, the ways in which they see its positivity ripple throughout their clients’ lives, and the need for more familial courtrooms to adapt its policies.

“Areas are waiting for it. They're wanting it. They're needing it. They just need the attorneys who are going to provide it. And that's what we're working on now,” Ashley-Nicole says of the effort to spread the power of collaborative law. “I do think that it is an easy choice for clients once they truly understand [collaborative law]. What we have battled in the past is awareness — now we have it.” 

With the publicity the IACP is receiving from its Nobel Peace Prize nomination, both women are hoping this powerful form of conflict resolution will be more widely adopted in courtrooms across the country.

Tune in to this episode of Divorce, Healthy! with Ashley-Nicole Russell, Collaborative Attorney serving Beaufort, Raleigh, Wilmington and Greenville, NC.

Name: Ashley Michael, Esq. 

What she does: Ashley is one of only 25 recognized adoption specialist attorneys in North Carolina, the co-owner and managing attorney of Michael & Russell, PLLC, the only collaborative family law firm and adoption firm in southeast North Carolina. Whether she is working on domestic, juvenile, or guardianship cases, Ashley uses her training as a litigator, mediator, and collaborative law professional to resolve people’s issues with empathy and respectability.  

Words of wisdom: “In collaborative [law], we are part of these people's lives that we're helping, and that's just a beautiful thing that we get to engage in.”

Connect: Website | LinkedIn 

⭐ To inquire about speaking engagements, purchase your copy of Ashley-Nicole’s book “The Cure for Divorce Culture,” or to schedule your private orientation meeting, head to www.anrlaw.com. 

⭐ You can also find us on social media @ANRLaw. 

⭐ Divorce Lawyer Ashley-Nicole Russell has law offices serving clients in Greenville, Raleigh, Beaufort and Wilmington, North Carolina.

⭐ Find a better way forward, right here, on Divorce, Healthy! Subscribe in your preferred podcast app.

Cryptocurrency, Non-Fungible Tokens and Digital Assets are now common enough to frequent  divorce cases as assets to be divided, but still new enough that most people are unfamiliar with what it represents. Attorneys need to understand how these digital assets are purchased, how they are stored, and how they are maintained.  

In this episode of Divorce, Healthy!, host Ashley-Nicole Russell speaks with attorney Ben McLawhorn of McLawhorn & Russell, PLLC about cryptocurrency and other non-fungible tokens in divorce court. Ben aims to educate both clients and fellow attorneys on digital assets and how to approach them in litigation and settlement discussions. The two discuss at length the equitable distribution of crypto, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Smart-Contracts, NFT’s, Blockchain and the Metaverse and how those concepts play out in collaborative law proceedings versus in family law litigation. Ashley-Nicole discusses that Collaborative is an evolved model allowing the value of the assets to be obtained in a more transparent way across North Carolina and throughout the country.

How do you know if you even have Crypto or what if your spouse understands it far better than you? Ben discusses the challenges that come with digital assets, such as ensuring clients disclose them to their attorneys, the difference between mining and trading cryptocurrency, and how to store and cash in digital assets. There are so many facets to cryptocurrency that need to be understood and considered when dealing with it divorce cases; from Bitcoin to NFTs and Ethereum to blockchains, Ben uses his knowledge to ensure his clients are being treated fairly. 

Tune in to this episode of Divorce, Healthy! with Ashley-Nicole Russell, Collaborative Attorney serving Beaufort, Raleigh, Wilmington and Greenville, NC. 

Name: Ben McLawhorn 

What he does: Ben is an attorney at McLawhorn & Russell, PLLC, where he specializes in employment law, Social Security disability, and family law. Ben also works in tandem with Ashley-Nicole Russell, using an individualized litigation approach to ensure their clients’ rights and interests are protected.

Words of wisdom: “You need to have somebody who's knowledgeable in this space, who understands what these digital assets represent, and how they are to be handled during a divorce.” 

Connect: Website | LinkedIn 

⭐ To inquire about speaking engagements, purchase your copy of Ashley-Nicole’s book “The Cure for Divorce Culture,” or to schedule your private orientation meeting, head to www.anrlaw.com. 

⭐ You can also find us on social media @ANRLaw. 

⭐ Divorce Lawyer Ashley-Nicole Russell has law offices serving clients in Greenville, Raleigh, Beaufort and Wilmington, North Carolina.

⭐ Find a better way forward, right here, on Divorce, Healthy! Subscribe in your preferred podcast app.

Ashley-Nicole Russell, Esq  believes that mindfulness during divorce can make all the difference in how and what process is chosen and thus will affect the result. Her guest Eranda Jayawickreme applies his research in post-traumatic growth to illustrate divorce as a result and not a one-time action. As a psychologist and researcher, Eranda uses his work to show that divorce is not an isolated incident but an outcome of a long process. 

On this episode of Divorce! Healthy, Ashley-Nicole and Eranda walk through the cycle of divorce, how it impacts everyone differently, and what we can learn about our divorce process from our childhoods. Eranda dives deeper into collaborative versus litigation approaches and whether one event can define who you are today or will be tomorrow.  

“One reason why people struggle with divorce is that they may have had a childhood or they may have had prior life experiences that don’t necessarily give them the tools to help navigate complex problems successfully,” Eranda says. 

“The secondary control that you can put in place is of how you're dealing with the situation, finding a resource that won't amp up the animosity between you trying to protect your own mindset so you can protect your children”, Ashley-Nicole says.

As the cycle of divorce continues, it can be easy to give into building tensions but by being mindful of the end goal, that each party involved receives what is fair. This tension and giving into animosity can lead to heightened anxiety, depression, and can take a harsh toll on your overall mental health. It’s important that in situations where it’s possible, to choose a collaborative approach during the divorce process. Collaborative between the divorcing parties can ease future decisions such as child custody and settlement negotiation. Awareness of yourself, of children, family, and others that are affected in the divorce process will help this difficult time pass more easily.

Name: Eranda Jayawickreme  

What he does: Eranda received his Ph.D. in positive and social/personality psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2010. He is Harold W. Tribble Professor of Psychology at Wake Forest University, and he conducts ongoing research on integrating philosophy and psychology, with an acute focus on post-traumatic growth. Eranda is involved in several projects monitoring the possibilities to strengthen character following adversity, challenge, or failure and the integrative theories of personality. 

Words of wisdom: “I do think, when you go to the experience of ending a marriage, it is an opportunity for you to step back and reflect on what you think you've done, how you think you're behaved well, ways in which you think you could do better.” 

Connect: Website | Twitter

⭐ To inquire about speaking engagements, purchase your copy of Ashley-Nicole’s book “The Cure for Divorce Culture,” or to schedule your private orientation meeting, head to www.anrlaw.com. 

⭐ You can also find us on social media @ANRLaw. 

⭐ Divorce Lawyer Ashley-Nicole Russell has law offices serving clients in Greenville, Raleigh, and Beaufort, North Carolina.

⭐ Find a better way forward, right here, on Divorce, Healthy! Subscribe in your preferred podcast app.