Amid the heat of a divorce, someone has to take the first step toward acting nicely, or a calm and quick settlement is not going to happen.
Acting nicely within the "friendly" approach of cooperative divorce requires three things: Avoid aggravating your spouse. Listen to what your spouse says and convince them you heard every word they said. Know what to say and when to say it; then say it nicely.
If you want to know to do these things, or if you are doing them correctly,imagine all of your friends and family, all of your spouse's friends and family, your children, your neighbors, your employer and co-workers, your customers, patients, clients, etc., being able to watch and listen to your settlement conversations. If you behave the way you would want the world to see you behave, you are doing it correctly. It is this simple.
It may be necessary to change your behavior from the way you were accustomed to acting during your marriage. While some changes in the past may have cost you money or inconvenience, being nice to your spouse is likely to save you money and inconvenience. It pays dividends now and in your future.
Taking the friendly or nice approach is a simple way of doing what you can to prevent a bad marriage from being followed by a bad divorce.
