How Do I Tell My Spouse I Want A Divorce?
Every couple is different, so you may want to talk to a family counselor for advice about handling about your specific situation, but here are some general guidelines:...
A Tale Of Two Divorces
A Litigation Story: Lori and Joe had been fighting off and on for the last year, too often in front of their children, Max (8) and Maggie (10). Finally, Lori told Joe that she wanted a divorce. Over the next couple of weeks, both met with and hired divorce lawyers. When they met with their respe...
How Can I Deal With The Negative Impacts Of Divorce?
One of the best ways to deal with the negative impacts of divorce is to work to minimize them. This is both a matter of lowering the conflict and preparing for your new single life....
Managing Conflict In Divorce Litigation
While we believe in exploring opportunities for alternative dispute resolution in our cases, often we do need to litigate (proceed with court process) for one reason or another. Litigation IS an adversarial process. Still, even in litigation, we prefer to reduce conflict rather than escalate it....
Civility Matters in Divorce
I recently read an article by Carol Bailey-Medwell on Why Civility Matters. Carol manages Integrative Family Law, a firm that shares many of the same values we hold here at Seattle Divorce Services. Recently I had the pleasure of reading one of her articles in a member's publication, and I thou...
The Problem With Escalating Conflict
Too often people believe that the best way to deal with conflict is to "fight fire with fire". If they are accused of something, they accuse back. If they are yelled at, they yell back. If attacked in any way, they attack back. The problem with this approach is that it just fuels the fire, and ever...
A Different Kind of Family Law Firm
Yesterday I had another unsolicited resume sent in by an attorney who was interested in Seattle Divorce Services specifically because he really liked the way we resolve family law issues. In fact, several of our recent hires have been attorneys who wanted to leave their firms and join us primarily...
Tips for Reducing Conflict
Divorce has a reputation of being all about conflict - before, during, and after. It does not have to be like that, however. Here are a few tips for reducing conflict in your relationships: 1. Focus on what is important. Sometimes we just get in the habit of conflict - we'll argue with ANYTHING a c...
Seeing Things Differently
This week I went in for cataract surgery. The next day when the bandages came off, it was quite amazing how everything looked different than what I was used to. Things are more brightly colored, they look a little closer, I can see great at a distance, but I need reading glasses for close up. Basica...
Secrets to Getting to Agreement Out of Conflict
You may think "There is no way we'll be able to reach agreement, we're too far apart." However, Dispute Resolution professionals can help you move past those differences to find ground for agreement....