Out of Court Settlement : Divorce Dispute Resolution

Separation and divorce are both stressful situations. Nonetheless, the idea that legal action is always required to resolve them is untrue.

We’ve all heard dreadful tales of prolonged divorce cases that end up costing a fortune. It can be difficult to negotiate child and spousal support, the division of assets and other belongings, and child custody agreements when the parties are rarely communicating with each other. In the worst-case scenario, enraged partners employ legal counsels to make strict requests, the parties dig in, a court steps in, and hostility approaches a boiling point. Contrary to the conventional confrontational approach to divorce talks, conciliation for an out of court settlement would appear to provide a more amicable option.

The family lawyers at “Sonia and Partners – Law Firm” have the experience and legal knowledge to help you navigate the maze of litigation or alternative dispute resolution through negotiations and mediation and to help you get the best results for you and your unique situation.

Art of Negotiation and Settlement in Divorce Dispute

The choices you make will have a long-lasting effect on the things that are most important to you. They include your family, finances, residence, and company. That’s why it’s stressful. The good news is that you may approach divorce negotiation in a calm, logical, and organised manner, and there are strategies to overcome this dread.

When a disagreement arises, parties must decide whether to try to resolve it amicably themselves or to delegate decision-making to their Counsel. Such Counsel should carry qualities in negotiation bringing two or more parties to come to an agreement using cooperation, planning, persuasion, and communication.

The Legal counsel who facilitates the settlements ensures that the Parties engage in discussions while trying to reach an out-of-court defrayal of a dispute. If settlement talks are successful, the parties shall sign a binding agreement containing the details of their settlement.

The Art of negotiations run on certain key principles :

1. Knowledge is Power
2. Control the Agenda
3. People vs Problem (Keep them separate)
4. Focus on long term Loss compared to short term gains
5. Invent Options on Mutual Gains
6. Define a win-win value creation strategy
7. Try to close the Negotiations within time frames

The majority of people’s success or failure in a negotiation depends on how well-prepared (or not!) they are. We follow the 80/20 rule, according to which preparation for negotiations takes up 80% of the time and actual negotiations with the opposing side account for 20%.

Due to the high levels of emotion involved, divorce negotiations are a breed of their own. Contrary to corporate talks, you are bargaining with a party who is intimately familiar with you. Emotions at times overpower you and you end up doing mistakes and the negotiations fail.

Here below are some common mistakes you must avoid during negotiations

1. Failure to get a macro level view of finances (Assets and Liabilities)
2. Failure to estimate your Post Divorce Lifestyle expenses
3. Failure to know the Debt traps
4. Failure to account the inflation (especially for monthly support)
5. Failure to predict future cash flow / income (if in contract job)
6. Failure to estimate the cost of education and healthcare for children
7. Failure to address contingences and health issues of parents
8. Failure to clearly call out child custody and visitation rights
9. Failure to understand common interests and conflicting interests
10. Failure to account the retirement benefits, health and life insurance, investment premiums, EMIs etc…

How to be successful during Divorce Negotiations :

Although there are numerous methods and strategies, I can attest that the following five are quite effective based on my own experience successfully negotiating more than 500 divorce settlements.

1. Control Your Emotions
2. Use the Power of Silence
3. Ask Advice from Opposite Party
4. Making First Offer is the Best Strategy
5. Final Offer is never the Final Offer

Conclusion:

A lot of us treat negotiations like a conflict. Each spouse focuses on obtaining things from the other spouse that he/she does not want you to have, and you try to stop him/her from having your stuff, is how that conflict is portrayed and gets escalated.

If you approach negotiating in that way, you’re already facing a steep climb. Since that viewpoint determines how you interact with and assess both your partner and yourself.

Using the fight screen, you’ll assess your opponent. And since they are the other, you will assign the evillest motives to their actions. My advice based on my experience is to approach negotiation as a collaborative problem-solving process rather than viewing your partners as your adversary.

Its very important to know that life moves on, its always better to look for a Win-Win and focus on the principle “Time is Money” instead of litigating and wasting your precious time especially your youth at the court.

Feel free to write to us at mail@lawyersonia.com or call +91 9845944896 if you wish to consult or discuss your matter. “Sonia and Partners” is a Boutique law firm led by Adv. Sonia Rajesh supported by a team of qualified and among the Best Lawyers in Bangalore practicing in the area of Family Law and Criminal defence serving Citizens of India, Overseas Indians, NRIs and Global International Clients.