During divorce or separation, couples often come to the table with different perspectives on what is the right outcome for them and their family.
This can result in an impasse where they believe the only solution is court intervention. With the support of skilled negotiators, however, this needn't be the case.
Constructive negotiation brings the couple and their solicitors together in round-the-table discussions geared towards reaching a settlement that suits everyone involved.
One of the biggest advantages of negotiation is that, without the stress of court intervention, couples often have space to find creative solutions tailored to their specific circumstances. It’s this opportunity to discuss a wide spectrum of options that many couples find helpful in allowing them to achieve their future goals.
At Sharp Family Law, our highly skilled solicitors can intervene to support you through the constructive negotiation process, ensuring you understand exactly what steps need to be taken to reach a suitable settlement.
We offer professional and impartial advice and will efficiently and effectively pursue your objectives through our expert negotiation tactics, avoiding the need for the courts to intervene.
After a successful negotiation, our team can proceed to prepare a consent order that finalises any financial settlement agreements made between you and your former partner.
Read more about how constructive negotiation works in the FAQs below. Or contact us if you have any further questions.
How can we help?
At Sharp Family Law, we focus on a constructive resolution of the issues from the outset, with our skilled solicitors helping clients to avoid prolonged conflict on the way to reaching a secure, long term settlement.
Our divorce solicitors carry years of experience in constructive negotiation with them, allowing us to settle the vast majority of cases outside of court.
Our team are committed to using our expertise to find creative and practical solutions that meet the specific requirements of all of our clients. By helping each party to work together collaboratively, we can help to promote a satisfactory solution that addresses the needs and concerns of both parties.
Alongside our constructive negotiation skills, our divorce solicitors are able to guide our clients through any additional intricate legal process with no problems. We are committed to providing our clients legal support of the highest standard, from the initial consultation all the way to the final resolution.
We take pride in our ability to help our clients reach a stable, long term settlement that provides them with the peace of mind required to move on with their lives.
Constructive Negotiation FAQs
By seeking to avoid the emotional cost of court litigation, a constructive negotiation process could help you to:
- Successfully adjust to the realities of your new situation, separation or divorce
- Explore options that focus on creative solutions for achieving your most important goals
- Reach agreeable financial settlements and child-centred family solutions, without court intervention
- Preserve relationships and successfully move on with your life.
Our process allows us first to get to know your individual circumstances and then tailor a strategy around them. Constructive negotiation involves the following steps:
- Identify your priorities. Our first goal is to understand what is most important to you. What do you wish to achieve? What might be the biggest hurdles to overcome?
- Understand your circumstances. Next, we will gather essential information, from personal contact details to dates of marriage and separation, you and your partner’s occupations, homes, children and parenting arrangements. We’ll also need details of your financial situation including income, savings, pensions, debts, liabilities etc.
- Understanding your partner’s priorities and circumstances. A key component of successful negotiation is recognising upfront what matters most to your partner. This includes having some level of knowledge of your partner’s greatest fears/anxieties surrounding the current situation – and how they might best be addressed.
- Create a strategy for negotiations. Successful negotiations demand careful preparation. This will include gathering information about how you and your partner have resolved conflict in the past. Have you been able to resolve issues through face-to-face discussion and reach shared decisions? Are you open and honest about your financial positions? Do you trust your partner to be fair in the way they will negotiate – and in the outcome?
- Conduct negotiations. With a strategy in place, we meet in face-to-face, round the table discussions and/or direct communications with other solicitors and parties to begin the negotiation process.
- Reach a resolution without court intervention. Our most important goal is to provide you with control over the outcome or your divorce or separation and minimise unnecessary emotional and financial costs.
Your solicitor will prepare you in advance for constructive negotiation. This is likely to include gathering and organising financial and other relevant paperwork that need to be dealt with between you and your former partner.
Prior to starting constructive negotiation, it is important to establish your goals and priorities, as this will prove very beneficial when proceedings are launched. Other skills that may be useful to practice will be active listening and effective communication, as these can both make the process a lot more straightforward.
Constructive negotiation has proven its worth in many types of divorce cases, most commonly those involving property division, child arrangements and spousal support. Whilst it has a very high success rate, in cases involving a significant power imbalance, or a refusal to negotiate in a productive manner, other approaches such as court proceedings may be needed.
Constructive negotiation can be very effective in terms of arrangements for children. This is because it allows both parties to work collaboratively to create solutions in the best interests of their children, quickly and cost effectively. An effective child arrangement should meet the needs of both parents, as well as the children involved.
Contact our constructive negotiation solicitors
Speak to our experts in Bath, Bristol and Bradford on Avon to learn more about using constructive negotiation as an alternative to court proceedings. Our experienced solicitors will be happy to answer your questions and make a start on the process leading to a successful resolution.