Consociatim

Latin adverb meaning “together” or “jointly.” 

Consociatim is the first firm of its kind, part next-gen mediation practice and part consultancy, designed to empower individuals to come together as partners in solutions to modern-day life problems. We'll guide you to have thorough and open conversations that bring you to collaborative decisions on complex, often challenging topics. We focus on two particular scenarios: 1) purchasing residential properties jointly, and 2) platonic co-parenting. 

Co-purchasing property with your life partner, friends, family or others can be an excellent answer for many modern-day scenarios. For example:

• Homeownership may be out of reach on your own but achievable together with a friend

• You may be planning ahead for a retirement where you live with your friends and family

• You may want to co-invest in a property as a source of passive income.  

Shared homeownership involves entering into a business partnership that can be contentious if not done thoughtfully – or it can function well with the right proactive planning.

Platonic co-parenting disentangles the process of having children from the process of finding romantic partnership.  It solves for scenarios like:

• Wanting to start a family without needing to prioritize finding a romantic partner

• Believing that the optimal partner in parenting might not be your partner in romantic love

Co-parenting of any kind is a lifelong commitment to a complex, ever-changing process of raising a human to adulthood. You'll want to make it as seamless as possible by planning ahead, discussing potential issues in advance and memorializing how you both want to do everything from sharing expenses to imbuing your future child with shared values.

Our Process

Consociatim facilitates the proactive planning needed to solidify the long-term relationship between partners, whether co-purchasers or co-parents. This happens through a two-part process:

One: 

It starts with a specialized proactive mediation process in which we guide the you to discuss a comprehensive list of topics critical to co-ownership (and, if relevant, cohabitation) or co-parenting. You’ll discuss how costs are divided in a range of scenarios, what happens if certain life circumstances change, what resources are shared, the responsibilities of each individual in a variety of situations, the protocols you want to establish for decision-making and much more. It’s also our role as mediators to guide the process, so that the conversation is open and collaborative, even when talking about tricky financial and lifestyle topics.

Two: 

From there, we’ll take the decisions that you come to and formalize them into legally binding written agreements for your own reference or to use in litigation proceedings if necessary. Due to the collaborative nature of mediation processes, though, mediated agreements tend to be self-enforced rather than court-enforced. 

• If you’re co-purchasing, we'll create a Memorandum of Agreement. We'll also create the co-ownership agreement if you're buying via tenancy in common or joint tenancy (and we'll help you make that decision together). 

  • Or if you're creating an LLC for the property transaction, we’ll also produce the Operating Agreement that documents the financial and functional rules for the LLC that you'll have decided on.

• If you're entering into a co-parenting partnership, we'll create a Parenting Agreement.

We help you have open, collaborative discussions that fortify rather than erode your long-term relationships — allowing you to bypass attorneys, whose adversarial approach and fee structures (two to five times higher) aren't appropriate in this context.

Consociatim works with clients across the United States. In select geographies, for co-purchasing, we're also able to introduce you to trustworthy and experienced real estate agents and real estate attorneys who can work with you to identify and execute the transaction for the property that suits your needs.

 Who Is Consociatim?

Consociatim was founded by Bettina Huang, who received her training in facilitative mediation from Northwestern University. She holds a BA from Brown University and an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business. She is an experienced startup and small business executive who knows that planning ahead with partners is half the battle, and whose LinkedIn profile can be viewed here. As the managing member of a small real estate holding company with her sisters, Bettina also has direct experience with the challenges and rewards of co-owning property with close relations.

Contact

Please send an email to consociatim@gmail.com, with a brief note about what you'd like to accomplish together. If your scenario fits our mandate, we'll set up a 30-minute gratis consultation on Zoom, so that we can learn more about each other before proceeding.