Negotiations in Conflict

This project will look at negotiation in conflict on a personal level. A family of eight children has recently lost their father unexpectedly. Their mother is mentally sound but her health has been slowly deteriorating. She is 75 years old and is now solely taking care of her 50 year old daughter that has a mental disability and suffers from epilepsy. After the death of her husband she quietly observed the children talking about the estate and the care of the special needs sibling. The mother realized there was a division among the children on how to deal with the estate and sibling. She decided it was time to talk to everyone about her desires as well as theirs.
Three of the five able children have been actively involved in the estate planning process for the past ten years. Anything monetary will split six ways. The house is already in all the children’s names and completely paid for. One will be in charge of the financial responsibility for the special needs sibling; another has access to information regarding cash assets as well as power of attorney and the final of the three shares power of attorney and is named as the one to be guardian of the special needs sibling. The other two were left out of the process because one has a greedy dominating spouse and the other is greedy as well as selfish. The mother wants the guardian and the special needs child to live in the house rent free for the remaining life of the special needs daughter. None of the other children know that this is the wish of the mother. The mother has also specified certain heirlooms to specific children and has intentionally tried to keep the division even and special. The estate is somewhat valuable with a liquidation value of $1.5 million.
A typology was created by conflict theorist Daniel Katz that distinguishes three main sources of conflict: economic, value, and power. Economic conflict can be described as each party wanting to get the most that they can. The emotions and behaviors of...