08/12/2024
On July 24th, 2024, we lost one of our beloved Collaborative colleagues, Janet Miller Denton. Janet passed away peacefully surrounded by family and friends after a year-long battle with ALS.
Janet was a graduate of UT Austin, and received her J.D. from Texas Tech Law School. She was an accomplished family law attorney in Tarrant County, Texas, for 37 years. Among the many awards and accolades, in 2024, Janet was recognized by the Tarrant County Family Law Bar with the Eva Barnes’ Award, a highly coveted recognition of leadership and uncommon contributions to Family Law.
In the early 2000’s, Janet took her first collaborative training and she was instantly hooked on the concept. Janet went on to be instrumental in bringing Collaborative Divorce to Tarrant County and promoting Collaborative Law by including it as a topic in various programs and meetings that she was often in charge of.
Many in our Collaborative community have Janet to thank for the introduction to the world of Collaborative Divorce. Janet was the founder and chairperson of the Northeast Tarrant County Collaborative Professionals group, which was one of the first practice groups in the State. In her role for NTCCP, along with many other innovative community initiatives she came up with to spread the word, Janet created a “presentation in a box” for attorneys and MHP’s to use to speak to local Chambers of Commerce and other civic groups about Collaborative Divorce . Her enthusiasm for the work was infectious and much of the content she created is still used by Collaborative professionals around the State today.
Though Janet’s career path ultimately took her out of private practice, she never stopped singing the praises of Collaborative divorce. In her role as Director for Family Court Services for Tarrant County, she brought dispute resolution services to families in crisis. She continued to advocate for families to consider collaborative divorce as an alternative to litigation. Janet later became the Director for the Dispute Resolution Center in Tarrant County and created community programs providing mediators for all types of legal disputes.
Janet was an inclusive mentor to many bringing more and more people into her activities, and a friend to all. She was always generous with her time for new lawyers helping others advance their skills and careers and had an unmatched enthusiasm for what we do. She will be greatly missed.
A memorial service to celebrate the life of Janet Miller Denton will be held on August 15th, 4-7 p.m., at Hurst Conference Center, 1601 Campus Drive, Hurst, Texas, 76054. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the ALS Association, donate.als.org. Here is the email to utilize when making the donation: [email protected]
