How to Communicate Effectively During a Divorce

During a divorce and sometimes after the divorce is done, the parties often have a hard time communicating with each other. There are so many emotions that prevent the parties from being able to work together, which is necessary when you have children.

When parties have trouble communicating, they sometimes use the attorneys to do the communicating for them. This can greatly increase legal costs. Also, it gives the parties a false sense of security because once the case is done the parties are going to have to find a way to talk again in order to co-parent their children. One solution that is used now is Our Family Wizard.

Our Family Wizard is a tool that is sometimes used by the court in more contentious cases to streamline communications between the parties and keep them focused on the children. Each parent is given a login, and they are able to post communications to each other about events, parenting time, and other issues related to the children. If necessary, inappropriate posts may be used in the divorce proceedings and may even affect parenting time. The parties each pay a small cost to use this service, and they are able to continue using it after the court’s involvement is over.

When the parties have such a difficult time communicating, it is a good idea to do all communications in writing. Our Family Wizard is just one tool that parties may use to communicate. Programs like Our Family Wizard or even just writing emails allows the parties to think about what they are saying and remove any unnecessary emotion from their communications. They are able to edit the communication and rebuild trust more than they might if they are communicating in person or over the phone.

Communicating in writing also keeps the children out of the middle. This is one of the most important things that parents need to do, but often is forgotten about. When parents are not able to have a civil conversation with each other, there is a good chance that at least some of the time the children are going to overhear the arguments. This puts unnecessary stress on the children already in the middle of the divorce.