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Hef's Wife Kimberly Conrad Returns to the Mansion: the Ultimate "Collaborative Divorce"?

Many people might think of the Playboy Mansion as the ultimate "bachelor pad". This image might take a slight blow, as Fox News reports that Hugh Hefner's estranged wife, Kimberly Conrad, recently showed up for one of Hefner's "female-frenzied movie nights", departing from her practice of only showing up on Tuesday "Family Nights" when other bunnies aren't around. Kimberly Conrad and Hefner married in 1989 and have two teenage sons together, and while they separated ten years later, the pair have never divorced. In fact, an earlier interview with Kimberley Conrad indicated that she and their two children "live next to the Playboy mansion in a $7 million home purchased by the Playboy mogul to keep them close."

Although Hef and Conrad might not technically be divorced, their somewhat unusual circumstances bring up an opportunity to highlight a newer area of family law, that of "collaborative divorce". Divorces sometimes end up being lengthy, expensive, and painful processes, often compared to wars. On the other hand, some divorces are entirely amicable, with the parties just needing attorneys to draw up the paperwork to sign so as to move on with their lives.

Collaborative divorce is a process that best applies to the grey area in between such amicable and heated divorces. Essentially, both parties agree that they will seek solutions to the issues they are facing by working together outside of court, rather than against each other as adversaries. The attorneys in the process are specially trained for collaborative divorces, and the process involves meetings of the parties and their attorneys to iron out key differences in a way that can make for less stress and expense. Once the differences are resolved via the meetings, a settlement agreement can be written up beforehand, which can vastly simplify the legal process.

Finally, just in case Hugh Hefner's top "bachelor" status might be considered at all threatened by any of this news, the same report should dispel any such doubts, as it looks like Hef now has a new "number one girlfriend" that has moved into the master bedroom.

• Fox News: Wife Kimberly Conrad Returns to Hef's Mansion
• USAWeekend.com: Interview with Kimberly Conrad
• Collaborative Divorce Law (provided by David Littman, P.C.)
• What Is Collaborative Divorce? (FindLaw)
• Divorce: Settlement Agreements (FindLaw)

Full post as published by FindLaw's Common Law on January 23, 2009 (boomark / email).