Thank you for joining me. My name is LaSheena Williams, and I am a Maryland family law attorney. My firm helps our clients take control of out-of-control domestic situations. Today we will be discussing preparing for your settlement conference.
What is a settlement conference?
A settlement conference is a court ordered conference between the parties in a case and a judicial official. Your settlement conference may be before a retired judge or a sitting judge that will not be presiding over your custody or merits hearing.
Review your Statements
It is very important that you review any statements you filed prior to your settlement conference. Like going into mediation, you want to know what it is you are telling the court and what your goals are so that you can get as close to those goals as possible. You want to review your parenting plan. You want to have reviewed your financial statements. You want to have reviewed your property statements. You also want to review any interrogatory responses that you or the opposing party have provided so that you know what the issues are, what the concerns are, and you can go into that settlement conference with a purpose and goal in mind.
Prepare a Settlement Proposal
You also want to prepare a settlement proposal. Ideally, you want to send this a few weeks before the settlement conference to give the opposing party time to review it. However, even if you didn’t send it to them prior to the settlement conference, coming to the settlement conference with a plan, it will help streamline these issues for the court and help frame how the court will proceed in resolving your case.
Know your Boundaries
Before entering into a settlement agreement, it’s very important for you to know your boundaries, know what how far you’re willing to go, and what issues you’re willing to give on, and which issues are just hardline issues that you will not concede on. You want to know these so that you don’t get caught up in the excitement of the situation potentially getting resolved today. You want to make sure that you know what those are so that, even if you can reach a resolution because these issues are hardline issues, and you know and remember why you can’t necessarily proceed on settlement that day.
If you have any questions about preparing for a settlement conference or any other issues related to domestic concerns in Maryland, contact the Law Office of LaSheena M. Williams at (301) 778 – 9950 or leave an online request for a consultation.
