4 Ways to Have Healthy Communication Through a Divorce

A divorce involves a lot of mixed emotions, including anger and sadness. Even with so many hard feelings, proper communication goes a long way to help the divorce process and end things smoothly.

Learn about ways to communicate and proceed through your divorce without the need to create unnecessary stress or upsetting situations. Every couple is different, but each step will help you reach agreements through the divorce process.

Dealing with courtrooms and judges may be an intimidating part of the divorce process, but you have options to avoid a courtroom and communicate through a safe setting for both you and your former spouse. Divorce mediation is a set meeting used to negotiate the divorce and set forth your wants and needs.

A mediator will help lead the conversation and keep emotions at bay as you and your former partner discuss issues like money, custody, and property. To help reduce stress, set up multiple mediation meetings. Each meeting could have a specific topic to discuss.

At first, the mediation may feel awkward and challenging, but as you adjust to the surroundings, the mediation serves as one of the best options to plan out the details of a divorce.

Interpretation is everything when you involve the details of a divorce. You should avoid any form of text communication to avoid misunderstandings. A person who receives a text could view the information as aggressive, demanding, or hostile, even if you had no intention of coming off that way. 

When you need to communicate with your former partner, use voice options like a phone call. You could even choose to communicate through video chat. With a video phone call, the other person could see expressions and eliminate any confusion on the emotions attached to various elements of a conversation.

The last thing you want to worry about is a misunderstanding leading to delays or bigger problems with the divorce.

As you learn to set boundaries with your former partner, consider setting up meeting times beyond the mediation. You do not want to deal with random phone calls when you are not prepared to talk about specific issues. With a scheduled meeting time, you will not only have the opportunity to prepare what to say, but you will emotionally prepare for the exchange as well.

The scheduled meeting times will also help avoid expanded problems. For example, if you call your spouse multiple times and reach voice mail each time, you do not want to harbor feelings of anger or resentment if you feel like they are ignoring you.

Divorce lawyers may also help set up safe meeting times and locations. You could meet at a restaurant or a specific meeting room if you seek out a formal location.

Social media has become a big part of our daily communication as people express themselves through pictures and posts. Before the divorce moves forward, try to set some ground rules for social media to help improve communication. For example, you and your ex may decide to not post about each other or tag each other.

You may agree to not directly communicate with the other person on social media. You could choose to announce your divorce at the same time and proceed with other options such as picture removal. The ideas may seem trivial but could easily result in hurt feelings and resentment if you do not communicate your thoughts and ideas beforehand.

A divorce lawyer has years and communication experience and how to help handle tough situations.

Contact us today at James D. Bass to help go through the divorce process. Our experienced team of lawyers will help answer any questions and allow you to reach all of your communication goals.