JOIN US! May 1, 2026

Kristen Boldt is a mediator, communication coach and trainer. She works with individuals and organizations to learn a new way of communicating and collaborating that is relational rather than transactional. Through Spherical Thinking, she helps people see themselves, others, and their organizations differently and teaches the skills to go FARR (flexible, adaptable, resilient and responsive). When we see ourselves and our world spherically, we can navigate life’s challenges and the constant flux in a way that lets us thrive, not just survive.

Known for helping clients reach a settlement or enter into agreements, Bob Merlin is committed to helping his clients to resolve divorces and other family law issues in the least adversarial ways possible.

Advocating for the best interests of the entire family, Bob applies his skills in the Collaborative Process, mediation, and direct negotiations to help his clients enter into agreements and without going to court.

Bob excels in managing complicated financial matters, including the valuation and division of property. When children are involved, he ensures that their needs and best interests are the highest priorities. Whether representing professionals, executives, athletes, or their spouses, Bob works best with clients looking for a private, mature, efficient way of divorcing that does not perpetuate destruction.

“My goal is to help divorcing and other family law clients make well-informed decisions so they experience a more efficient process and feel more in control over their futures.”

A Florida Bar Board Certified Family Law Specialist, Bob practices in the areas of divorce, timesharing of children and parenting plans, child support, alimony, paternity, pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements, and cohabitation/partnership agreements.

An experienced Collaborative attorney, Bob continually hones his skills in the Collaborative Process and trains other professionals how to become a Collaborative professional as he is. Bob has a long history of being involved in community organizations and taking leadership positions.

Edward Sachs is a Certified Public Accountant and Accredited Collaborative 

Professional. 

After 25 years of representing spouses in litigated divorces, in 2016, Mr. Sachs 

opened his own accounting practice dedicated to the Collaborative Process and 

other alternatives to litigation in settling financial issues in divorce and business. 

Ed is a Past President of the Florida Academy of Collaborative Professionals 

(FACP) and is a member of three practice groups in Miami-Dade, Broward and 

South Palm Beach counties. He currently serves as the President of My 

Collaborative Team, the not-for-profit publisher of the #1 distributed weekly 

Collaborative Family Law Newsletter in North America. 

Mr. Sachs has trained countless professionals throughout Florida in the 

Collaborative Process and has taught Collaborative Ethical Standards for the past 

three years at the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals Annual Forum.

I have been practicing family law in Iowa for over 31 years. During that time, I have learned the importance of individuals having as much input as possible into their post-relationship parenting and financial lives, and the courtroom is not the place to accomplish this goal. Whether through a collaborative proceeding, mediation, or other methods of alternative dispute resolution, parents owe it to their kids, and themselves, to maximize their input into all parenting arrangements. Using a collaborative approach also allows you the benefits of involving neutral professionals as needed to assist with both parenting matters and financial matters, and it saves everyone money by having neutral professionals rather than dueling professionals. At the end of the day, I want my clients to be in the best possible position to move forward as individuals and as parents, and collaborative practice is absolutely the best choice to navigate that path. 

As a lawyer representing children, Diane sees families from the children’s viewpoint and gives the children a voice in disputes between their parents.

Diane is an experienced litigator, mediator and parenting coordinator. Diane is enthusiastic about alternative approaches to handling family law problems. Everyone in the family benefits when parents and children have clear expectations and minimal conflict.

After graduating from Gustavus Adolphus College and University of Michigan Law School, Diane represented low-income persons in Ann Arbor, Muscatine and Des Moines for over 25 years, most of that time as the supervising attorney of the family law unit at the Legal Aid Society of Polk County. For nearly two decades, she was an associate at Carney & Appleby, where she represented parents and children in divorce, custody, domestic violence and all other types of family law cases.

In addition to her work as a lawyer, Diane facilitates a continuing care group at Powell Chemical Dependency Center, is actively involved in her church and has served on the Walnut Street School PTO. She is a member of the Polk County Bar Association Family Law Committee, Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, Iowa Collaborative Divorce Practice Group and International Academy of Collaborative Professionals. For more than 20 years she was the Legislative Chair for the Family & Juvenile Law Section of the Iowa State Bar, and served on the Iowa Supreme Court Family Law Reform Task Force.

Diane is passionate about helping families. She has been a foster parent, stepparent, adoptive parent, grandparent and guardian. “I see right in front of me my own kids who struggle with their parents’ family conflict, mental illness, substance abuse, incarceration, and generational domestic violence. I learn from my kids every day; they remind me of the realities of life as I practice family law.”

Rob Evans is a partner in the Miller & Evans law firm.  His practice areas include divorce, child custody, child support, modifications, alimony, guardianships, mediation, and collaborative law.  Rob focuses on dispute resolution outside of court through negotiation and offers collaborative divorce services as an option for his clients.  Rob’s knowledge of the law, keen negotiation skills, and straight forward approach makes him one of Des Moines’s most sought after family law mediators.

Rob is a member of the American Bar Association, the Iowa Bar Association, the Polk County Bar Association, the Alliance for Collaborative Divorce, and the Central Iowa Academy of Collaborative Professionals. Rob is also a volunteer with the Polk County Volunteer Lawyers Project.