Husband and Wife have been married for 13 years. They have no children together, but Husband is the only father Wife’s sons Brad (14) and Matt (15) have ever known. Husband is the coach of the boys’ soccer team, leader of the boys’ scout troop, and parent advisor to the school band. Wife does not want to shut Husband out, but he is so clingy and needy that he is driving her crazy. (She believes that Husband uses his activities with the boys to be near her.) Husband and Wife both understand that Husband has no legal rights to the children, but Wife also knows that the boys want/need Husband in their lives. In addition to finding a time-sharing arrangement that will work for everyone Wife and Husband are stuck on the division of their assets. Husband is a “saver”, and he is afraid that if Wife, a “spender,” takes half of their savings ($184,000 in an investment account) she will spend it all in no time. They both have 401ks of almost equal value. The house they live in was Husband’s prior to the marriage. At the time of the marriage the house had a $20,000 mortgage balance and a value of about 230,000. Today, the house is worth $330,000 and the mortgage is paid off
1. Using your selected case, identify the substantive, procedural, and psychological issues that may need to be addressed? Which of these would your address first? Explain
2. Using your selected case study, identify how each party sees the other as the “problem.” (1) What would be each party’s solution? (2) How would you move the problem to the other side of the table? (3) How would you frame the problem to include both parties. (address all three sub-questions)
3. Discuss at least five of the techniques in Chapter 7 that could be applied to your case?
4. Using the notetaking form below, identify the parties’ possible interests, rights, power, and commonalities. (Before completing the notetaking form, please revisit Notetaking for Mediators – chapter 6, p.106 and review Figure 6.2 Sample Notetaking Form).
