Always Set Goals Before Beginning Divorce Mediation
One of the best ways to measure the success of your mediation process is to set some goals at the outset regarding what you would like to achieve.
Goals give you something to aim for, and also guide all the discussions you will have with your spouse and the mediator. If you don’t have any specific goals or haven’t thought through what is important to you in the process, it is harder for you to advocate for yourself
The process of setting goals can be challenging—you need to carefully consider your priorities and the spots where you are willing to compromise. Here are a few tips to help you find greater success in this process.
- Write lists: Actually writing down your priorities and potential areas of compromise can help you better visualize the issues at hand and make you feel more prepared for the discussions ahead of you.
- Determine your acceptable outcomes: Any time you enter into any sort of negotiation you should come in with a range of outcomes you are willing to accept so you know where to draw the line and how much room you have to negotiate or compromise. Be firm on your must-haves and be wiling to stand up for yourself.
- Separate categories of decisions: If you have children, for example, you should separate the parental decisions from the financial decisions or asset decisions, and never use one as a bargaining chip for the other. Consider them entirely different categories and do not mix and match.
- Create budget projections: By drafting a budget now and projections of what your budget could look like after divorce with a range of acceptable outcomes you give yourself more context for the goals you’re setting and the discussions you will have in mediation.
Goal setting is an important part of finding success with mediation. An attorney can assist you as you determine reasonable goals you can stick to throughout the process. For more information about how to proceed, contact a trusted Long Island divorce lawyer at Solutions Divorce Mediation.