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Constructive Negotiation

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.

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 really helpful in allowing them to achieve their future goals.

Read more about how constructive negotiation works in the FAQs below. Or contact us if you have any further questions

How we can 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. With years of experience of constructive negotiation, we settle the vast majority of cases out of court.

Contact us to learn more about negotiating an agreement. Our experienced solicitors will be happy to answer your questions, and make a start on the process leading to a successful resolution.

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:

  1. 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
  2. Understand your circumstances. Next, we will gather essential information, from personal contact details to dates of marriage and separation, your and your partner’s occupations, homes, children and parenting arrangements. We’ll also need details of your financial situation including incomes, savings, pensions, debts, liabilities etc.
  3. Understand 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 might they best be addressed.
  4. 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?
  5. 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.
  6. 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.

More information

“I just wanted to thank you for your contribution to our meetings. It was great to have your calmness to balance bullishness of my husband’s solicitor. It made the meetings that might have been so unpleasant, actually much more bearable”

“I should like to thank you for your support yesterday, which made a difficult and frustrating day more bearable.”

Download a PDF – Client Preliminary Information Form (pdf)