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I, c. 346.","full_text":"As used in this chapter, unless the context requires otherwise:\n\t\t“Collaborative law communication” means a statement, whether oral or in a record, or verbal or nonverbal, that (i) is made to conduct, participate in, continue, or reconvene a collaborative law process and (ii) occurs after the parties sign a collaborative law participation agreement and before the collaborative law process is concluded.\n\t\t“Collaborative law participation agreement” means an agreement by persons to participate in a collaborative law process.\n\t\t“Collaborative law process” means a procedure intended to resolve a collaborative matter without intervention by a tribunal in which persons sign a collaborative law participation agreement and are represented by collaborative lawyers.\n\t\t“Collaborative lawyer” means a lawyer who represents a party in a collaborative law process.\n\t\t“Collaborative matter” means a dispute, transaction, claim, problem, or issue for resolution that is described in a collaborative law participation agreement and that is between family or household members or arises under the family or domestic relations laws of the Commonwealth, including (i) marriage, divorce, dissolution, annulment, and property distribution; (ii) child custody, visitation, and parenting time; (iii) alimony, spousal support, maintenance, and child support; (iv) adoption; (v) parentage; and (vi) negotiation or enforcement of premarital, marital, and separation agreements.\n\t\t“Family abuse” has the same meaning as set forth in \u00a7 16.1-228.\n\t\t“Family or household member” has the same meaning as set forth in \u00a7 16.1-228.\n\t\t“Law firm” means (i) lawyers who practice law together in a partnership, professional corporation, sole proprietorship, limited liability company, or association or (ii) lawyers employed together in (a) a legal services organization or (b) the legal department of another organization.\n\t\t“Nonparty participant” means a person, other than a party and the party’s collaborative lawyer, that participates in a collaborative law process.\n\t\t“Party” means a person who signs a collaborative law participation agreement and whose consent is necessary to resolve a collaborative matter.\n\t\t“Proceeding” means a judicial, administrative, arbitral, or other adjudicative process before a tribunal, including related prehearing and post-hearing motions, conferences, and discovery.\n\t\t“Prospective party” means a person who discusses with a prospective collaborative lawyer the possibility of signing a collaborative law participation agreement.\n\t\t“Record” means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.\n\t\t“Related to a collaborative matter” means involving the same parties, transaction or occurrence, nucleus of operative fact, dispute, claim, or issue as the collaborative matter.\n\t\t“Sign” means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record, to (i) execute or adopt a tangible symbol or (ii) attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound, or process.\n\t\t“Tribunal” means a court, arbitrator, administrative agency, or other body acting in an adjudicative capacity that, after presentation of evidence or legal argument, has jurisdiction to render a decision affecting a party’s interest in a matter.","order_by":null,"text":{"0":{"id":263389,"text":"As used in this chapter, unless the context requires otherwise:\n\t\t“Collaborative law communication” means a statement, whether oral or in a record, or verbal or nonverbal, that (i) is made to conduct, participate in, continue, or reconvene a collaborative law process and (ii) occurs after the parties sign a collaborative law participation agreement and before the collaborative law process is concluded.\n\t\t“Collaborative law participation agreement” means an agreement by persons to participate in a collaborative law process.\n\t\t“Collaborative law process” means a procedure intended to resolve a collaborative matter without intervention by a tribunal in which persons sign a collaborative law participation agreement and are represented by collaborative lawyers.\n\t\t“Collaborative lawyer” means a lawyer who represents a party in a collaborative law process.\n\t\t“Collaborative matter” means a dispute, transaction, claim, problem, or issue for resolution that is described in a collaborative law participation agreement and that is between family or household members or arises under the family or domestic relations laws of the Commonwealth, including (i) marriage, divorce, dissolution, annulment, and property distribution; (ii) child custody, visitation, and parenting time; (iii) alimony, spousal support, maintenance, and child support; (iv) adoption; (v) parentage; and (vi) negotiation or enforcement of premarital, marital, and separation agreements.\n\t\t“Family abuse” has the same meaning as set forth in \u00a7 16.1-228.\n\t\t“Family or household member” has the same meaning as set forth in \u00a7 16.1-228.\n\t\t“Law firm” means (i) lawyers who practice law together in a partnership, professional corporation, sole proprietorship, limited liability company, or association or (ii) lawyers employed together in (a) a legal services organization or (b) the legal department of another organization.\n\t\t“Nonparty participant” means a person, other than a party and the party’s collaborative lawyer, that participates in a collaborative law process.\n\t\t“Party” means a person who signs a collaborative law participation agreement and whose consent is necessary to resolve a collaborative matter.\n\t\t“Proceeding” means a judicial, administrative, arbitral, or other adjudicative process before a tribunal, including related prehearing and post-hearing motions, conferences, and discovery.\n\t\t“Prospective party” means a person who discusses with a prospective collaborative lawyer the possibility of signing a collaborative law participation agreement.\n\t\t“Record” means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.\n\t\t“Related to a collaborative matter” means involving the same parties, transaction or occurrence, nucleus of operative fact, dispute, claim, or issue as the collaborative matter.\n\t\t“Sign” means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record, to (i) execute or adopt a tangible symbol or (ii) attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound, or process.\n\t\t“Tribunal” means a court, arbitrator, administrative agency, or other body acting in an adjudicative capacity that, after presentation of evidence or legal argument, has jurisdiction to render a decision affecting a party’s interest in a matter.","type":"section","prefixes":[""],"prefix":"","entire_prefix":"","prefix_anchor":"","level":1}},"ancestry":[{"id":12849,"edition_id":1,"name":"Uniform Collaborative Law Act","identifier":"11","label":"chapter","depth":2,"order_by":1,"parent_id":12711,"metadata":{},"date_created":"2026-06-26 03:43:56","date_modified":"2026-06-26 03:43:56","permalink":{"id":178093,"object_type":"structure","relational_id":12849,"identifier":"11","token":"20\/11","url":"\/20\/11\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1}},{"id":12711,"edition_id":1,"name":"Domestic Relations","identifier":"20","label":"title","depth":1,"order_by":1,"parent_id":null,"metadata":{},"date_created":"2026-06-26 03:43:49","date_modified":"2026-06-26 03:43:49","permalink":{"id":178075,"object_type":"structure","relational_id":12711,"identifier":"20","token":"20","url":"\/20\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1}}],"structure_contents":[{"id":73151,"structure_id":12849,"section_number":"20-168","catch_line":"Definitions","url":"\/20-168\/","token":"20\/11\/20-168","metadata":false},{"id":63396,"structure_id":12849,"section_number":"20-169","catch_line":"Applicability","url":"\/20-169\/","token":"20\/11\/20-169","metadata":false},{"id":57366,"structure_id":12849,"section_number":"20-170","catch_line":"Collaborative law participation agreement; 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As used in this chapter, unless the context requires otherwise:\n\t\t“Collaborative law communication<\/span>” means a statement, whether oral or in a record<\/span>, or verbal or nonverbal, that (i) is made to conduct, participate in, continue, or reconvene a collaborative law process<\/span> and (ii) occurs after the parties sign a collaborative law participation agreement<\/span> and before the collaborative law process<\/span> is concluded.\n\t\t“Collaborative law participation agreement<\/span>” means an agreement by persons to participate in a collaborative law process<\/span>.\n\t\t“Collaborative law process<\/span>” means a procedure intended to resolve a collaborative matter without intervention by a tribunal<\/span> in which persons sign a collaborative law participation agreement<\/span> and are represented by collaborative lawyers<\/span>.\n\t\t“Collaborative lawyer<\/span>” means a lawyer who represents a party in a collaborative law process<\/span>.\n\t\t“Collaborative matter” means a dispute, transaction, claim, problem, or issue<\/span> for resolution that is described in a collaborative law participation agreement<\/span> and that is between family or household members<\/span> or arises under the family or domestic relations laws<\/span> of the Commonwealth, including (i) marriage, divorce, dissolution, annulment<\/span>, and property distribution; (ii) child custody<\/span>, visitation, and parenting time; (iii) alimony<\/span>, spousal support, maintenance, and child support; (iv) adoption; (v) parentage; and (vi) negotiation or enforcement of premarital, marital, and separation agreements.\n\t\t“Family abuse<\/span>” has the same meaning as set forth in \u00a7 16.1-228<\/a>.\n\t\t“Family or household member<\/span>” has the same meaning as set forth in \u00a7 16.1-228<\/a>.\n\t\t“Law firm<\/span>” means (i) lawyers who practice law together in a partnership, professional corporation, sole proprietorship, limited liability company, or association or (ii) lawyers employed together in (a) a legal services organization or (b) the legal department of another organization.\n\t\t“Nonparty participant<\/span>” means a person, other than a party and the party’s collaborative lawyer<\/span>, that participates in a collaborative law process<\/span>.\n\t\t“Party” means a person who signs a collaborative law participation agreement<\/span> and whose consent is necessary to resolve a collaborative matter.\n\t\t“Proceeding<\/span>” means a judicial, administrative, arbitral, or other adjudicative process before a tribunal<\/span>, including related prehearing and post-hearing<\/span> motions<\/span>, conferences, and discovery<\/span>.\n\t\t“Prospective party<\/span>” means a person who discusses with a prospective collaborative lawyer<\/span> the possibility of signing a collaborative law participation agreement<\/span>.\n\t\t“Record<\/span>” means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.\n\t\t“Related to a collaborative matter<\/span>” means involving the same parties, transaction or occurrence, nucleus of operative fact<\/span>, dispute, claim, or issue<\/span> as the collaborative matter.\n\t\t“Sign” means, with present intent<\/span> to authenticate or adopt a record<\/span>, to (i) execute or adopt a tangible symbol or (ii) attach to or logically associate with the record<\/span> an electronic symbol, sound, or process.\n\t\t“Tribunal<\/span>” means a court<\/span>, arbitrator, administrative agency, or other body acting in an adjudicative capacity that, after presentation of evidence<\/span> or legal argument, has jurisdiction<\/span> to render a decision affecting a party’s interest in a matter.<\/p><\/section>","plain_text":" CODE OF VIRGINIA\n\nDEFINITIONS (\u00a7 20-168)\n\nAs used in this chapter, unless the context requires otherwise:\n\t\t“Collaborative law communication” means a statement, whether oral\nor in a record, or verbal or nonverbal, that (i) is made to conduct, participate\nin, continue, or reconvene a collaborative law process and (ii) occurs after the\nparties sign a collaborative law participation agreement and before the\ncollaborative law process is concluded.\n\t\t“Collaborative law participation agreement” means an agreement by\npersons to participate in a collaborative law process.\n\t\t“Collaborative law process” means a procedure intended to resolve\na collaborative matter without intervention by a tribunal in which persons sign\na collaborative law participation agreement and are represented by collaborative\nlawyers.\n\t\t“Collaborative lawyer” means a lawyer who represents a party in a\ncollaborative law process.\n\t\t“Collaborative matter” means a dispute, transaction, claim,\nproblem, or issue for resolution that is described in a collaborative law\nparticipation agreement and that is between family or household members or\narises under the family or domestic relations laws of the Commonwealth,\nincluding (i) marriage, divorce, dissolution, annulment, and property\ndistribution; (ii) child custody, visitation, and parenting time; (iii) alimony,\nspousal support, maintenance, and child support; (iv) adoption; (v) parentage;\nand (vi) negotiation or enforcement of premarital, marital, and separation\nagreements.\n\t\t“Family abuse” has the same meaning as set forth in \u00a7 16.1-228.\n\t\t“Family or household member” has the same meaning as set forth in\n\u00a7 16.1-228.\n\t\t“Law firm” means (i) lawyers who practice law together in a\npartnership, professional corporation, sole proprietorship, limited liability\ncompany, or association or (ii) lawyers employed together in (a) a legal\nservices organization or (b) the legal department of another organization.\n\t\t“Nonparty participant” means a person, other than a party and the\nparty’s collaborative lawyer, that participates in a collaborative law\nprocess.\n\t\t“Party” means a person who signs a collaborative law participation\nagreement and whose consent is necessary to resolve a collaborative matter.\n\t\t“Proceeding” means a judicial, administrative, arbitral, or other\nadjudicative process before a tribunal, including related prehearing and\npost-hearing motions, conferences, and discovery.\n\t\t“Prospective party” means a person who discusses with a\nprospective collaborative lawyer the possibility of signing a collaborative law\nparticipation agreement.\n\t\t“Record” means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium\nor that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in\nperceivable form.\n\t\t“Related to a collaborative matter” means involving the same\nparties, transaction or occurrence, nucleus of operative fact, dispute, claim,\nor issue as the collaborative matter.\n\t\t“Sign” means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a\nrecord, to (i) execute or adopt a tangible symbol or (ii) attach to or logically\nassociate with the record an electronic symbol, sound, or process.\n\t\t“Tribunal” means a court, arbitrator, administrative agency, or\nother body acting in an adjudicative capacity that, after presentation of\nevidence or legal argument, has jurisdiction to render a decision affecting a\nparty’s interest in a matter.\n\nHISTORY: 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 346.","edition":{"id":1,"name":"2025","slug":"2025","date_created":"2026-06-21 22:39:22","date_modified":"2026-06-21 22:39:22","current":1,"order_by":1,"last_import":null}}