Divorce: Tips on How to Reach a Negotiated Marital Settlement Agreement
Before your marriage is ended on paper, your couple is supposed to draft many docs and the one that stands out against the rest in order of importance is an MSA. This paper has to outline the terms of your break-up including asset division, custody maintenance, alimony, and other relevant issues. Your couple can resolve the mentioned issues… Read More »
Before your marriage is ended on paper, your couple is supposed to draft many docs and the one that stands out against the rest in order of importance is an MSA. This paper has to outline the terms of your break-up including asset division, custody maintenance, alimony, and other relevant issues. Your couple can resolve the mentioned issues without involving any third party or you can seek help from lawyers or a mediator. Remember that the sooner you and your partner reach a deal, the better you two will be doing both financially and emotionally. If you strive to complete divorce online, you two have to find an effective way of making important decisions amicably.
When drafting the paper, ascertain yourself that it defends your personal interests and addresses all important issues that you may face in the long run. Below, there are some useful tips to consider:
- When holding talks, it is important to focus more on your interests rather than your positions. It doesn’t make any sense to issue ultimatums, of course, if you don’t want your case to outgrow into a big problem. You and your spouse should better explain your interests to each other and ask your attorneys-in-law to come up with creative solutions that will cater to the needs of both parties.
- Oftentimes, driving a hard bargain may lead to a stalemate situation. Of course, if another party is passive and you feel like taking a losing-bargaining approach will not get in the way with your talks, then you can give this route a try. However, if your spouse is going to hard-bargain too, your case is likely to end up in court.
- Try to stay on the right side of your spouse. If you and your partner have kids in common, it is crucial that you two get along with each other during and after the process. Even if your romance has already ended, your relationship is to last forever as you two will always be parents to your little ones. Unless you or your children were victims of your spouse’s misbehavior or your partner is still in love with you and wants you back with all his or her heart, there are few reasons to poison your relationship, and many ones not to. Souring that relationship after you file for divorce will come to no good for sure.
- Do your best to build a trust-based relation with your opponent. Make sure that your financial disclosure is complete and that no “numbers” are lacking. Note that no contract can be fair unless both parties and their lawyers have a full understanding of both financial situations.
- Be ready to communicate with another party and his or her attorney a lot. So and in no other way, you can settle all your issues and get to the heart of your every matter. Being honest and open for a dialog will help your couple resolve your issues out of court.
- Keeping cool before you prepare your cheap divorce papers online and after they are done is essential. When you lose your temper, you cannot think clearly, much less make balanced decisions during negotiations.
- Try to focus more on urgent problems rather than your spouse. It is always hard emotionally to deal with the end of your marriage. But when your future life depends on the decisions you take today, it is important that you switch off from an emotional aspect of your case and pay closer attention to what matters the most.
- Check if it is possible to achieve mutual benefit. If you believe that your divorce will leave one of you a winner and another one a looser, you are so wrong. Remember that in any case, there always is a fine line. Let us say, you can give away some real estate to get more ready money if your spouse needs a place to live and you need some cash to invest in your personal development, education, etc. Never forget that you two can always arrive at a decision that caters to the needs of both.
- As soon as you draft a document, get someone to read it for you and check if there are any slips or omissions in the doc. Remember that the lack of document accuracy may take a heavy toll on your case. If you work with an online divorce service, contact the provider to ask if they have an expert who can review your document before you submit it to the court.
Even though divorce is not easy to go through, by avoiding conflicts, agreeing to concessions where it is possible, and taking into account each others’ needs, your couple can reduce the negative effect of the process. Try to take balanced, yet fast decisions so that you can make a fresh start immediately.
