Mediator
{2 minutes to read} Separating or divorcing parents don’t always see eye to eye when creating parenting schedules or discussing how to divide their property. Occasionally, as they say, they get “stuck.” Each party thinks their position is the one that should be adopted and refuses to consider the other person’s request. While it is…
{3 minutes to read} When separating/divorcing couples or family members reach out to me for a consultation about the mediation process, they often ask “what happens if we get stuck?” It is not unusual for people to become deadlocked, especially if they have strong views about a particular issue: One parent wants Joanie to have…
{2 minutes to read} People usually relate a story or an incident from their own perspective, and sometimes, that same story can sound quite different depending on who the storyteller is. Here is a little anecdote that might amuse you: I was standing on a crowded bus one day. A woman was sitting in front…
{2 minutes to read} In my article How much is my Picasso worth? we talked about how to estimate the value of art collectibles in order to divide them up in a divorce. Today, I wanted to address how couples may choose to go about the division of their furniture and household items. 1. Create a…
{3 minutes to read} Finding out about a friend’s upcoming divorce can be very shocking from your point of view: •We never suspected things were so bad. •How could we have missed the signs? •Why did they not say anything sooner? •When did they decide to do this? What do you say? How can you…
{3 minutes to read} I was invited to speak on a panel about the challenges that families encounter when, after a divorce, one parent wants to move to another country with the children. In the role of the mediator, I presented three cases that I mediated where the couples were all expats who had at…
{2:25 minutes to read} Ram Dass, an American spiritual teacher and psychologist said: “We often think that vulnerability is a kind of weakness, but there’s a kind of vulnerability that is actually strength and presence.” People I see in my practice experiencing the pain of divorce, frequently have moments when they become tearful, fearful, or…
{3 minutes to read} Do you remember playing on seesaws when you were a child? You and a friend would sit on either side of a plank balanced in the middle of a fixed support. One would push off the ground and go up, while the other would bend their knees and go down. When…
{3:42 minutes to read} Bringing a step-relative into the family structure can be challenging for everyone, or very successful, as the following story illustrates. Recently, I was visiting a family of 7; a couple with 4 children, from ages 7 to 11, and a new puppy. One grandmother was there with her significant other—we will…
{2:30 minutes to read} As we grow older, possibly wiser, or maybe it’s just that we have more experience, I realize that we are still not able to view situations from the perspective of the younger generations. They never knew the rotary phone and are astonished when we say: ”No, we did not have cell…