Many individuals are very anxious to get their divorce or family law matter concluded quickly. They want the case to end. They want the pain to end. They want it to stop as soon as possible. They want to move on with their life.

To try to get a case settled, they issue a settlement offer. In some cases, a response to the settlement offer is not forthcoming by the deadline that was set for the offer to expire.

Instead of patiently waiting for a response to a settlement offer, and continuing to move their case forward in the interim, many are tempted to issue another more enticing settlement offer. In other words, they offered one particular proposal. Since there was no quick response, they desire to butter up the original proposal with an even better offer when there was no response to the original offer.

When a party to a divorce or family law matter does this, they are essentially bidding against themselves. They are sweetening the pot, in essence, with the hope that the other party will bite on the more generous offer to conclude the case.

In some cases, it is certainly possible this might cause the other party to bite. But in many cases, the other party might come to realize that by not responding to the original offer, they got an even better deal. This can lead to a party thinking that they might not respond to the second offer, either. By not responding to the second offer, the thought is the there might be an even better third or fourth offer coming if they just keep not responding.

This path can lead to a party becoming way too generous just to get a case done. This can ultimately lead to regret at some point after the case concludes.

For most parties, submitting a settlement offer to attempt to settle the case makes sense. But bidding against yourself (when there was no response to the original offer) does not usually make sense.

If you have submitted an offer, it’s usually best to wait for a response before issuing a second settlement offer. Even if the deadline you set for a response has passed, it’s best in most cases not to submit another offer until a response is provided to the original offer. If there is no response, consider continuing forward in preparing your case until you get a response to the original offer.

If you are going through a divorce or family law matter where settlement negotiations are a part of the case, you can contact Stange Law Firm, PC at 855-805-0595.