Thanks for spending the day with the Norris family. This page collects everything from the training in one place — the pre-read videos and documents, the agenda and minutes for all five meetings, and the deeper research behind the advanced financial issues.
Use it to revisit anything you want to take back to your own practice. All of it is yours to keep.
📁 What's here: jump to Pre-reads (intake videos + case background), The four meetings (agendas & minutes), or Research & white papers (QOZ, oil & gas, mineral characterization, the intake study).
Pre-reads — the videos
All five intake videos are in one unlisted YouTube playlist. Each has chapter markers — use the scrubber in YouTube, or the chapter links under each video below to jump straight to a section.
Intake Session — Angela Norris
~43 minCristi Trusler conducts a recorded initial consultation with Angela. Watch how the collaborative option gets raised and framed — even when the client doesn’t walk in asking for it. This is the front door to the whole case.
Watch on YouTube⏱ Jump to a chapter (18)
- 0:00Welcome & how the consultation works
- 2:11Angela's story: the marriage & why now
- 4:18The kids & the Fort Worth question
- 8:00Is ChatGPT discoverable? Privilege explained
- 9:38Three ways to divorce in Texas
- 11:44What collaborative divorce is
- 13:48Privacy & the collaborative team
- 17:03Full financial disclosure & mediation
- 19:07Bringing Ainsley's voice in (child specialist)
- 20:10How a case begins: the petition
- 22:27Communication tips: the BIFF method
- 25:38Timeline, cadence & the team analogy
- 27:48What collaborative costs
- 30:02Choosing your professionals
- 31:02How meetings run & reaching agreement
- 34:07Separate vs. community property (three buckets)
- 37:15Engaging the firm: staff & rates
- 40:28Wrap-up
Interest-Creation Sessions — Carol Mapp with each client
~64 min · two sessionsOur MHP/facilitator, Carol Mapp, guides Tommy and Angela separately through discovering what actually matters to them. One session per spouse. This is where the underlying interests — not positions — first surface.
▶ Watch: Tommy’s session (26 min) · Angela’s session (38 min)
⏱ Tommy’s session — Jump to a chapter (17)
- 0:00Welcome & the facilitator's role
- 1:05Tommy on running things: work & control
- 2:22His family: Cooper & Ainsley
- 4:24His relationship with Ainsley
- 5:28Caring for his father
- 6:29Where things stand with Angela
- 7:31Handling conflict in the room
- 8:41"Angela may be in for a rude awakening"
- 9:44The standard screening questions
- 11:58What matters most: get it done, fairly
- 14:06A quieter life & his dad's care
- 15:10On keeping Angela in the dark
- 16:36The process & the finish line
- 17:46Parenting time & Ainsley today
- 19:55Ainsley at school & learning differences
- 21:00Cheer, boys & college
- 23:03Next steps & what comes next
⏱ Angela’s session — Jump to a chapter (20)
- 0:00Welcome & the facilitator's role
- 0:33Angela's story: 23 years running the home
- 1:12Cooper, his family & grandson Elvio
- 2:47The move question begins
- 3:48Fort Worth & Ainsley's cheer/TCU plan
- 4:46Relationship with Tommy now
- 6:14Supporting Cooper & closeness with Ainsley
- 9:30Standard questions: others, substances
- 10:48Communication & caring for Tommy's father
- 12:51What matters most: transparency
- 13:49Financial security & a runway
- 16:30Life after the case / a fresh start
- 19:11Her biggest worries about the finances
- 20:29The "displaced" homemaker & retraining
- 24:05Feeling secure & health insurance
- 25:48Her ongoing role with the kids
- 27:18Does Ainsley know? Relocation not yet discussed
- 32:11The meeting roadmap & between-meeting work
- 34:19Timeline & private-school season
- 36:47Wrap-up
Team Debrief & First Team Meeting
~45 minCarol briefs the professional team on both clients, followed by the team’s first planning session: who handles what, how the agenda gets set, and how the first collaborative meeting is structured. This is the collaborative team deciding how to run the case.
Watch on YouTube⏱ Jump to a chapter (19)
- 0:00The team debrief begins
- 1:45Tommy: a business-transaction mindset
- 4:01Tommy's emotional state & interests
- 5:36"I don't know what's going on" — a financial flag
- 7:11Watch for outside advisors (shadow counsel)
- 8:57Carlos & Jennifer weigh in on Tommy
- 12:01Tommy's pace & personality cues
- 14:13Pivot to Angela: the emotional engine
- 15:44Angela & the finances / being in the dark
- 17:28Wanting her contributions recognized
- 19:42The Fort Worth relocation surprise
- 22:12Managing emotion & "brain fag"
- 23:46Spending patterns & "fixing our face"
- 25:40Christi adds: sadness more than anger
- 28:58The power imbalance & the kids as common ground
- 31:57Logistics for the first meeting (seating, grounding)
- 33:06Agenda, intros & goal-sharing order
- 35:17Minutes, temporary agreements & assignments
- 37:36Child specialist question & close
Child Specialist Interview — Ainsley Norris
~54 minChild specialist Jennifer Leister sits down with the Norrises’ sixteen-year-old daughter, Ainsley. Watch how a skilled child specialist builds rapport, draws out a teenager’s honest perspective, and surfaces insight the team can’t gather any other way. This sets up the live feedback meeting you’ll watch on the training day.
Watch on YouTube⏱ Jump to a chapter (24)
- 0:00Welcome & meeting Ainsley
- 1:37What a child specialist does
- 2:00How collaborative law works
- 3:31"I'll never ask you to choose" — the promise
- 5:13Confidentiality & how feedback works
- 7:28What a divorce decree is
- 10:18The parenting plan: schedule, holidays, summer
- 12:00Ainsley opens up: family & feeling micromanaged
- 13:50Cheer, boundaries & not wanting to move
- 15:09Pressure, friends & staying put
- 18:49Day 2: recapping the schedule options
- 20:53The 2255 schedule & why it fits
- 22:51Holidays: Thanksgiving & Christmas traditions
- 25:36Odd/even years vs. sharing holidays
- 30:02Summer, birthdays & cheer
- 30:21Day 3: rethinking the schedule
- 33:13Cheer camps & the move dilemma
- 37:11More space from mom & college independence
- 40:00Reading struggles & wanting to be tested
- 41:27Money worries & feeling like a burden
- 43:10Two-home essentials
- 45:44Cheer gear, boundaries & dating
- 48:39The feedback meeting & consent
- 51:53Heartfelt close
Pre-reads — the documents
Case Background & Fact Pattern
PDFMeet the Norris family — Tommy (energy executive / landman), Angela (wife and mother), adult son Cooper, and daughter Ainsley. Covers the marriage, the “don’t-ask-don’t-tell” financial dynamic, and the core tensions you’ll see play out on stage.
Meeting 1 — Summary
PDFA quick recap of how the first (procedural) meeting went — your bridge from the pre-reads into Meeting 2, where the live day begins. The agenda and minutes below show what that meeting covered.
Meeting 1 — Agenda
PDFThe sample agenda used for the first collaborative meeting.
Meeting 1 — Minutes (Collaborative Form)
PDFThe meeting minutes in collaborative format — what was decided and what comes next.
Financial Materials — Property Division & Key Exhibits
PDFThe numbers behind the case: property division, income, family expenses, future projections, the RSU vesting schedule, and the ExxonMobil pension coverture analysis. You don’t need to master these — skim for the shape of the estate. The team walks the financials live in Meeting 2.
New to the package? The Attendee Guide is a one-page overview of the pre-reads, with the same links and suggested order.
The four meetings — agendas & minutes
The audience-facing joint-session agenda and the collaborative-form minutes for each meeting of the day. (Meeting 1 — the procedural first meeting — is in the pre-reads above.)
Meeting 2 — Agenda
PDFFinancial Estate Walk-Around — building a shared picture of the marital estate.
Meeting 2 — Minutes
PDFCollaborative-form record of the estate walk-around.
Meeting 3 — Agenda
PDFGenerating Options — working the issues surfaced in Meeting 2.
Meeting 3 — Minutes
PDFOption generation, the additional disclosures, and the recommitment to process.
Meeting 4 — Agenda
PDFEvaluating Options — fuller disclosure and the full estate picture.
Meeting 4 — Minutes
PDFThe LLC, the gold, the working interests, and the restated estate.
Meeting 5 — Agenda
PDFComing to Agreement — building the settlement framework.
Meeting 5 — Minutes
PDFProperty division, maintenance, parenting plan, Cooper, and T.L.'s care.
Research & white papers
The deeper material behind the advanced financial issues — for the financially curious and for your own practice.
QOZ White Paper
PDFQualified Opportunity Zones in divorce — the deferral mechanics, the December 2026 cliff, and how to handle the embedded tax liability in a settlement.
Sample Oil & Gas Lease
PDFA full Norris Permian Ventures lease — the kind of working-interest document the team has to value and divide.
Texas Mineral Characterization
WEBA CLE explainer on characterizing mineral interests in a Texas divorce — separate vs. community, and the tracing that decides it.
Collaborative Intake Analysis
WEBA study of 51 real divorce intakes and the awareness gap that keeps clients from collaborative — and what to do about it.