Analysis of Life Problem - Essay Example

Life Problem In order to be successful in the negotiation, Edward must first determine the conflicts resulting from the case. The primary conflict surrounding the situation is whether or not the others' inheritance in endangered. Provided that an enforceable trust must be established, the conflict can be understood in terms of the manner that the properties must be distributed among the siblings. Naturally, Edward and the others would want an equal distribution of the whole estate, including the three new properties, believing the properties were bought with their parent's money; they should each receive an equal share. Nancy, on the other hand, as joint tenant and manager of the farm for the past ten years would believe that she deserves more than an equal share given her non-financial contributions to the property, and her role as caregiver for her mother. Underlying this conflict is the different opinion the siblings have on whether Edith's actions regarding were in accordance to Maurice's wishes. As Edward states, his father would have wanted all his children to benefit from the estate. Thus, Edith's choice of naming Nancy as a joint tenant is a major conflict among children because as the law of survivorship states, the interests of a deceased joint tenant cannot be passed on by will, but should be passed directly to the surviving joint tenant. In this case, all of Edith's jointly owned properties will be passed on to Nancy after her death unless formal actions are taken up to sever the joint tenancy or include the three children as tenants in common. Furthermore, structural conflicts are also present that make communication, and consequently understanding, difficult. Geographically, all three siblings have left Queensland and now reside in other parts of Australia and the world. Hence, physical communication barriers can cause anxiety and strain relationships, especially for the siblings who have not seen each other in more than 10 years. It also increases the window for misinformation. Edward and the others can also feel threatened by Nancy and Rajiv because of Edith's dependence on them, their residence in the estate, and their control over Darlington. It causes Edward to believe they are disadvantage against Nancy. Edith's health conditions also puts time constraints because as their mother and owner of the estate, she is the only person who can enforce changes in the distribution of Darlington through severing her joint tenancy with Nancy or including the three children as tenants in common without damaging relationships. Such circumstances indicate that relational conflicts are brewing because while Edward and the others feel threatened by Nancy, Nancy feels that her siblings are rallying against her or that they do not appreciate her sacrifices for the estate. These conflicts, although seemingly immaterial, plays an important role in the negotiation because it determines each party's attitude and possibly create a negative behaviour among the siblings, hampering communication even more. While there is a number of methods available, negotiations are the most efficient, viable, and appropriate method to resolve the conflict. As Edward explained, a legal proceeding is not only complicated, but their claims may also be weakened because it is be difficult to establish an enforceable trust based on their father's will. Their geographic location also makes legal proceedings difficult logistically and financially. Furthermore, with Edith's old age and health conditions, it will not benefit anyone to place stress on her. Thus, unless the children can come up with a negotiated outcome acceptable to all, and approach Edith with the outcome in hand, further disagreements among the children can only worsen Edith's condition. It is also important for Edward to understand that if taken to court Nancy's contributions to the farm, Edward and his party's absence and seeming lack of interest in the farm and their mother's welfare, and Nancy's residence in the estate all her life may entitle her to a greater share in the estate. Thus, it is important to negotiate to increase the probability of a greater share in the property. Lastly, it is best to secure a method that can avoid the breakdown of relationships. Given that the relationship conflicts present have not yet materialized and are still brewing within the family, negotiations can help prevent such conflicts, ending them before they even begin to surface, and strengthening the relationships to prevent a breakdown in the future. Based on the aforementioned conflicts, the goals of the negotiation, as far as Edward, David, and Elsie are concerned should be to establish an enforceable trust that will equitably distribute their parent's estate among the four children upon Edith's death. This should be broken down as follows: 1. to determine the distribution of Maurice's personal effects because of each siblings' conflicting claims 2. to establish concrete steps that will ensure Edward's party's claim on the three new properties acquired through joint tenancy with Nancy, which entitles Nancy as its sole owner upon Edith's death based on the survivorship law 3. to come up with a concrete executable plan to address the outcomes from the negotiation, and 4. to mend relationships and avoid further disharmony among family members In order to achieve these goals, Edward should carry out the following steps: first, he must make a thorough valuation of all properties in question. Next, before the negotiations, he must determine how Nancy values each property as opposed to him. In this case, one can infer that Nancy values the land better than the personal effects because that where her life is. Thus, keeping the property (land) intact will be a priority for her. While in his and his party's case, the land's importance depends only in its monetary value because as their lives in the last ten years indicate, they have already built a life outside Darlington. Furthermore, with regard to sentimentality, they may value the personal effects more because it is the only item that they can actually bring with them to their current locations, while Nancy seems to value the binoculars only for its practicality. Edward must then determine the range acceptable negotiated outcomes, which in this case would be to have all four goals satisfied, or at the very least to agree that a trust must be established to secure Edward and his party's claim to the estate either through further negotiations or a mediation. He must then determine a middle ground to base his negotiation plan on. The best middle ground would be to enforce a trust dividing the original Darlington estate, Maurice's personal effects, and Edith's claim on the three new properties equally among the four children. This middle ground awards to Nancy half of the new properties as salary for taking care of Edith and the farm. In order to successfully achieve the middle ground, and perhaps more, Edward must open the negotiation, not with demands, but with a rationalization for the negotiation. A significant cause of their disagreements seems to stem from the lack of communication within the family. Thus, making their sentiments known can be a crucial step to make negotiations less stressful for all parties and at the very least create a more receptive negotiating environment. With regard to the negotiation, and assuming that David and Elsie agree with Edward, they appeal to Nancy's love for Darlington and the land to come up with concessions and demands. First, with regard to Edith, and consequently their interest to the new properties, they can concede their claim to Edith's share provided that Nancy concedes her claim to Maurice's personal effects. In addition, Edward can also offer Nancy the that they will not sell their share of the original Darlington estate and allow Nancy to live in it indefinitely, provided that they are given a share of the income from the farm and that they retain ownership of their respective shares and of future that will be bought using their shares. In addition, they could also give Nancy the opportunity to buy their properties based on market value, or receive a monthly income aside from her shares as manager of the farm. This option is not only viable and less complicated, but is also benefits both parties because on one hand, it allows Nancy to keep her residence and maintain control of the entire farm, in behalf of her siblings; while on the other hand, the other siblings are assured that they retain ownership of their estate, and at the same time receiving income through Nancy's help. Furthermore, it relieves the parties the hassle of having to deal with the joint tenancy, provided of course that the proceedings of the negotiation are properly implemented and enforced. Lastly, by giving Nancy the role of trustee on behalf of her siblings, it gives Nancy the assurance that her siblings trust her, preventing relational conflicts and improving communication between them. However, it is still possible for the parties not to agree. Thus, at the very least, the parties must agree to meet again or agree to mediation after the initial negotiation. Word count: 1,495 Read More