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Mediation Case Study Step-Brothers Messy Estate Conflict Glen and…
Mediation Case Study
Step-Brothers Messy Estate Conflict
Glen and Robert are step-brothers. Glen’s mother met Robert’s father when the boys were both 8 years old. Their parents were widowers were they met. The parents married after a fairly long courtship of 3 years to make sure the blended family would work.
Glen and Robert started off as childhood friends. However, they soon became very competitive and jealousies set in. Both boys, over their lives felt their parents unfairly treated them and favoured their step-brother. Glen and Robert loved their natural parents dearly and over time felt a love and closeness to their step-parent. To protect their parents the step-brothers hid their growing animosity toward each other and once they became adults led very separate lives.
A tragic automobile accident suddenly took the lives of the brothers’ parents. Once the funeral was over the brothers had to deal with the parents’ will and their assets. The parents will did not specify a distribution of assets. All the will stated was that their belongings were to be left equally to their sons. The main assets that had to be dealt with were as follows: Small bungalow in Markham, Ontario valued at $350,000; a small condominium outside of Orlando Florida once valued at $450,000 but lost value in the 2009 recession and has never recovered. It is currently valued at $325,000; a small sedan valued at $7,500; their mom’s jewelry valued at $20,000; their father’s jewelry valued at $8,000; furniture in the Markham home is valued at $22,000; furniture in the Florida condo is valued at $10,000; and a joint bank account has $77,000. The parents did not have any pension plans or insurance benefits. The brothers have retained lawyers since they cannot agree on the distribution of the assets. The lawyers have assigned a mediator to the case to help the brothers work through their differences and resolve the conflict over the assets. The mediator’s name is Jocelyne.
Glen lives in the suburbs near Scarborough, ON and has a good job. Robert left Ontario for work in Calgary, AB. While there are a lot of available jobs there, Robert could never hold onto a job for very long and he feels he should get the home in Markham and his brother should get the condo in Florida. Glen has stated he does not want the condo Florida. He feels all of the assets should just be liquidated and the money shared. Robert feels that would be poor decision given the under-valued condo in Florida and the rising house market in Markham.
Other assets the brothers disagree about are their parents’ wedding rings. Robert feels Glen only cares about money. Robert wants the wedding rings for when he gets married one day. Glen tells Robert he can purchase the rings from the estate and if he cannot afford the rings then he can choose one ring. Robert feels that is so unreasonable and can’t understand why his brother won’t just let him have both rings since he is the only one that feels any emotional attachment to them. Robert thinks Glen is just being difficult to deny him the pleasure of something he really wants as he did when they were younger in many different situations.
Glen’s Personal Feelings:
Glen feels his brother, Robert, is irresponsible and incapable of holding a job. He feels Robert will quickly realize he has no money to even pay the upkeep and taxes on the Markham home. He would then have
to pawn the wedding rings in desperation. He would be willing to be flexible on the rings but certainly not the home. Robert has to show him he is somehow changed and can in fact hold on to a job. Glen would be willing to put the distribution of assets on hold to give Robert time to find and hold onto a job.
Robert’s Personal Feelings:
Robert feels Glen has always been just money hungry and very uncaring about his feelings. He wants the house in Markham as it will make him feel very close to his parents. More importantly he wants the wedding rings as his parents really did have a genuine love for one another and that is what he wants to have with his future fiancé when he decides to settle down and find the right person. He would be willing to be flexible on the house but he definitely wants the rings. Even though Glen is the one getting married, Robert does not feel Glen has any emotional attachment to their parents’ rings.
QUESTIONS TO ANSWER:
Part A: Introduction
Briefly describe the case by identifying the parties, their background, and the dispute
Describe the positions of the two main parties and the root causes of the dispute
Part B: Mediator and Mediation
Identify why a mediator is required
Describe the mediator
Describe the Mediationthe main section of your report. For example, the parties have signed a mediation agreement accepting the following: mediate in good faith, no foul language, no physical violence, no name-calling, have you act as the mediator, any agreement will be forwarded to their lawyers, the mediation session will be in the mediator’s office
Describe how the mediator brought the two parties together
Describe the exchange – you may use dialogue format if you wish. You need to identify the main areas of the dispute that the two brothers seem not to want to budge on
Identify and describe how you, the mediator, attempt to resolve their conflict
Identify the different approaches to and any theories of resolution and mediation that you, the mediator, would find most applicable
Part C: Resolution
Describe the outcome
Has the dispute been resolved? If not, describe why and the next steps
If the dispute is resolved, describe how the parties feel about the resolution and each other
