Decoding settlement discussions for clients

Throughout financial negotiations everyone is aiming for the same thing: a final settlement that comprehensively deals with all the financial arrangements to be made on the divorce. The parties might have very different ideas about what the settlement should look like and what shape it should take. At some points it may even feel as if the other party does not want to settle but it is useful to remember that this is where everyone will end up.

A negotiated settlement through discussions between solicitors mediation or the collaborative process is the most common way in which this is achieved. But what happens when the negotiations take place through solicitors? What form does this take and how is a final order reached?

There are two basis for negotiation: open and without prejudice. There is an important distinction between the two the explanation of which can often be lost on a client particularly if negotiations are taking place in both forms simultaneously.

Open offers made in either correspondence or in discussions between solicitors are ones that can be disclosed to a court....

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