by Nancy | May 24, 2017
Couples who adopt are very special. It’s a massive decision with lifetime implications. I think it starts with a “what if …?” and ends with a “let’s do it!” What gets discussed in between is unique and personal, and I would...
by Nancy | May 17, 2017
Power shifts in relationships can be perceived in many ways. Take the newlyweds who meet in college. The wife gets a teaching job with a decent entry level salary — enough to support the couple while the husband goes to law school. She works full-time, pays all...
by Nancy | May 10, 2017
It will come as no surprise if I tell you that I’ve seen a couple of tears shed in divorce mediation. A couple of thousand is more like it. I find it interesting to observe the varying ways people deal with their emotions in front of me, the neutral third...
by Nancy | May 3, 2017
Whose mom comes first on Mother’s Day? Your own mom, your grandmother, your stepmother, your mother-in-law, your kids’ mom, your surrogate mother? I think I’ll stop here, but you get the idea. There’s a great deal of pressure put on this...
by Nancy | Apr 26, 2017
Most of us tend to avoid conflict. We repress emotions because they may be negative, and result in feelings of helplessness or hopelessness. Often, we are afraid of confrontation because we don’t want our feelings to be hurt, or we don’t want to cause...
by Nancy | Apr 19, 2017
When my mom and dad first got married, they lived with my grandmother. When the recession hit in 2009, my nephew had no choice but to move his wife and kids to the in-laws’ house. When my friend April’s father had a stroke, she brought him to her own...
by Nancy | Apr 12, 2017
I’d say that virtually 100% of the time, the parties I meet with tell me they want things to be fair. It’s a lofty goal, because the decision to end the relationship almost always starts out one-sided. Someone is clearly driving the divorce bus, at least...
by Nancy | Apr 5, 2017
Your best friend’s husband cheated on her. You tell her, “Get yourself a lawyer. Right away. And be sure to find a real bulldog.” I’m pretty sure someone you know has been involved in this type of conversation once or twice. Many people think...
by Nancy | Mar 29, 2017
When I started doing research about conflicts in family business, my inbox overflowed with horror stories. The topics ranged from working for the ex-in-laws to wicked stepmothers taking over the company to whether to call your grandfather by his first name at the...
by Nancy | Mar 22, 2017
“There’s no conflict in MY family’s business. It runs smoothly, like clockwork, just the way my grandfather envisioned when he started it in 1959,” SAID NO ONE. EVER. The thing about conflict in family business is that it’s way more...
by Nancy | Mar 15, 2017
We’re a sensitive bunch, aren’t we? We take everything very seriously and very personally. What I’m talking about here is not the Mount Everest of abuse and betrayal. Rather, I’m on the first rung of a small ladder, looking at some of the...
by Nancy | Mar 8, 2017
“They haven’t spoken to each other in years.” I wish I would have kept track of how many times I’ve heard those words since I became a mediator. Most frequently, the parties involved are siblings, and no two stories are ever the same. There is...
