Four Tips for Making it Through Inheritance Dispute Mediation
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Inheritance disputes are especially difficult conflicts for a family to suffer through, but they arise often. What makes inheritance disputes particularly difficult is the emotions involved between family members—emotions that have likely been building over the years and have little at all to do with the issue at hand. This is why mediation is such a powerful tool for resolving inheritance disputes.
Here are four tips for keeping things in the right perspective if you are in the process of inheritance dispute mediation:
- Understand that grief is a major player. Since inheritance disputes usually follow the death of a loved one, grief will still be a part of the equation in dealing with family emotions. Understanding each other’s grief will keep the tone gentler and allow you to work through the conflict with less bitterness and anger.
- Address relationship problems. Often, these relationship problems end up being the core of the money problems. If resolution is reached with the relationship, it will be easier to resolve the inheritance dispute.
- Get over the embarrassment. Families entering inheritance dispute mediation are often embarrassed to be in the situation in the first place. After all, they should be able to solve their family fights on their own, right? Wrong. Family members sometimes need to be made aware of what is considered fair and just by the law. An inheritance dispute mediator would be able to facilitate this discussion. Other times, a “referee” is needed to make sure no one fights dirty. An inheritance dispute mediator can do this, too.
- Don’t expect immediate results. As with many family conflicts, time often heals wounds. It takes time to dig deep enough into the issue to get to the root of a problem, and it takes time for grief to be recognized. With this in mind, don’t go into the first mediation session expecting to fix everything then and there. It might take two or more 2-hour sessions before any real resolution is reached.
