Thursday, April 12, 2007

Necessity of Focusing on the Future

One of the hardest parts of settling a divorce case is getting clients to focus on the future and that the goal of mediation is to come to an agreement that focuses on what both parties need in the future. When communications focus on past behaviors and hurts, its important for the lawyers, and the mediators, to refocus the parties to think about the future because its much more productive. This is a constant problem because of the very nature of family law matters, there is hurt and emotions that sometimes make it tough for the parties to focus on the future. After a divorce, especially when there are children involved, there will be future issues and problems which will need to be addressed and discussing what will happen on holidays, and in the event of remarriage keeps the parties focused on what they want in the future. Additionally, focusing on the future helps the parties possibly take some of the emotion out of the process, which may help them reach a settlement. At the end of the day, the parties both want to come out the other side of a divorce in one piece. A successful mediation can make that possible.

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