Negotiate the terms of your settlement

Negotiation is a discussion between spouses with the goal of reaching an agreement. Spouses can negotiate a resolution themselves or with the help of lawyers.

Negotiation can be an efficient and effective way to solve issues:

• You do not have to wait for available Court dates.
• Have control over your agreement.
• You and your spouse can reach almost any agreement you want, regardless of the law.
• You do not have the uncertainty of not knowing the outcomes that will affect your life.
• Keep your issues, personal information, and settlement confidential.
• You do not pay for a third party to help you in a private process like mediation or arbitration.
• Avoid the paperwork, time, and stress of Court.

Negotiations with your spouse can be difficult. Emotions and your relationship history can get in the way of productive conversations. Also, you and your spouse may have very different ideas about what an agreement should look like. Hopefully, through creative problem solving, you can put together an agreement that works for both of you. Sometimes, spouses’ positions on issues are so far apart that they need help bridging the gap.

Negotiating is only possible when both you and your spouse want to and are able to discuss the issues and reach an agreement. If either of you are not ready, willing or able, for any reason, you may want to explore other options to move your matter forward.

Spouses who want to try to resolve their issues by agreement, but need some help may want to consider having lawyers help them with the negotiation or using mediation, which has many of the same benefits of negotiation, like control, flexibility and confidentiality.