The Lesson Here Is The Importance of Carefully Drafting Collaborative Law Agreements.
How's this for a setup: "Ling and Paul Mueller married in 2009 and separated in 2017. During their marriage, they cultivated cannabis and buried the proceeds on their property." What could possibly go wrong? Plenty.
The Muellers engaged in a collaborative law session, "a non-judicial alternative dispute resolution process commonly used for marriage dissolutions." Ms. Mueller made some harmful admissions during the collaborative law process regarding how much of the buried proceeds she had dug up and what she had done with it. The trial judge "found both parties had 'significant credibility gaps' but that Paul's 'testimony and differences in credibility on different days pales in connection to [Ling], whom I could not believe most of what she said." Ouch.
The trial judge adjusted the division of proceeds in favor of Mr. Mueller. Ms. Mueller argued that her statements in the collaborative law process were confidential and should not have been introduced in evidence. She appealed. Mueller v. Mueller, A166577 (1/5 6/3/24) (Burns, Jackson, Simons). Affirmed.
"We publish this case to highlight the importance of carefully drafting collaborative law agreements. Unlike mediations, our Legislature has not created an evidentiary privilege for collaborative law processes. (Compare Evid. Code, § 1119 with Fam. Code, § 2013.) If parties intend to keep the process confidential, they are responsible for drafting an enforceable contract that so provides."
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