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 considerations when preparing a settlement proposal.
What is a settlement proposal?
A settlement proposal is a proposal that you make to the opposing party in the hopes of reaching an agreement to resolve the issues in your current litigation matter. It may be regarding custody. It may be regarding property issues. It may be regarding attorney’s fees. It may be regarding support. It just depends on what issues you have and what issues you’re hoping to resolve.
Prepare an Asset and Liabilities Chart or a 9-207 Statement
When preparing your settlement proposal, it’s important for you to understand the lay of the land and what that means is you may need to prepare other documents that will help you develop a settlement proposal that’s right for you. for example, you may need to prepare an asset and liability statement or a 9-207 statement that shows what assets you have, how they are titled, the value any liabilities attached to those assets, and ultimately what you want to occur regarding those assets or if you’re hoping to settle regarding child custody, you may want to develop a parenting plan that lays out exactly what you want to do moving forward in raising your children. It’s important if you set these documents up and prepare them in advance so that when you make your settlement proposal you are operating from a position of, I know what we have, I know what I am giving up, I know what I am making sure I have after this, and I know what I want to do moving forward. So, it’s very important that you address and consider these issues prior to Preparing a settlement proposal.
What you Want vs. Leverage
When preparing a settlement proposal, it’s important to know what you want. it’s also important to know what your partner or your spouse wants because you may not remotely care about your spouse’s retirement account, you may not remotely care about your spouse’s pension, or the bank account that you know about that they may or may not have ever mentioned in discovery. you might not care about any of that. However, the fact that you know about it, you understand the value that it has, you understand the value that it could potentially bring to your spouse, may increase the likelihood of your spouse conceding on the issue they may not care about in the hopes of maintaining that asset. It’s important to speak with an attorney prior to preparing a settlement proposal because you may be taking things off the table that you don’t want, but that you may need for leverage to obtain the things you want. And you need to speak with somebody knowledgeable about those issues before you even discuss settlement with your co-parent or your spouse.
Be Open to Creative Solutions, but know your Boundaries
Well, it’s very important for you to be open to Creative Solutions. sometimes your mediator or your attorney may bring up an option that you’ve never even considered before, and the goal is to see, not necessarily agree, with whatever they’re offering but to consider that and see if maybe that or some alternate version can get you close to the goals you want in moving forward with your divorce or your other litigation issue. So, consider these issues. be open to new ones. It’s very easy to kind of have tunnel vision when dealing with litigation, but the goal is to keep your options open so that you can know what options you want to take and what options you want to pass on.
If you have any questions about preparing a settlement proposal in Maryland or any other family related issues, contact the Law Office of LaSheena M. Williams at (301) 778 – 9950 or leave an online request for a consultation.
