Working to carve out a new life post-divorce can be difficult for some people. Depending on your career, other significant relationships, and financial health, you may encounter some difficulty after your breakup. Even if your personal challenges seem daunting post-divorce, if you left your marriage without ruining your relationship with your ex, then you may be able to find a way to work together to co-parent any children. Some aspects of divorce are challenging for many couples who face the daunting task of dividing cherished assets or creating parenting plans to share children they want sole custody of in the home they want to keep. When you have an uncooperative spouse who wants life to stay the same, your road to a happy post-divorce life may be even more challenging to realize.
Three Tips for Working with an Uncooperative Spouse
- Find Out Why Your Spouse Refuses to Cooperate: You may assume you know why your spouse is being uncooperative and prolonging divorce proceedings, but it’s not always the issue you think. Your spouse could be seeking attention because they don’t think their feelings are being respected or acknowledged during negotiations. Listening to your spouse’s issues isn’t the same as validating and agreeing with them. You can listen without agreeing, and sometimes people simply want to be heard. If your spouse is not mentally unwell or a manipulative narcissist, then listening to their feelings may be the action needed to move things along.
- Consider How You’re Responding: If your spouse is regularly being mean and lashing out about the divorce, maybe you should consider how you respond when they become emotional. If your spouse is refusing to negotiate or becoming belligerent when you communicate details of the divorce, all you can do is control how you respond. Your spouse could be using these arguments and outbursts as bids for emotional connection. Controlling your reactions to your spouse’s outburst can change the dynamic of your interactions. You don’t want to engage your spouse’s behavior and reinforce it. You can’t let your uncooperative spouse force you to react.
- Keep Your Goals Top of Mind: Your uncooperative spouse can become the center of the entire divorce. The process can become more about avoiding outbursts and fallout from negotiations and less about the actual divorce and the required steps to finalizing the end of the marriage. You can get through your divorce from an uncooperative spouse by focusing on the task at hand and not on your spouse who is working in opposition to the new life you are trying to create.
Florida Based Divorce Attorneys
If you are attempting to negotiate with your spouse to finalize the terms of your divorce, but you’re not having any luck, the attorneys at Tinny, Meyer & Piccarreto, P.A., can help you formulate a new strategy to reach a mutually beneficial conclusion. We can also answer any of your questions you may have about your divorce. Call us at (727) 245-9009 to schedule a consultation.