Once a couple divorces there may come a time when one or both wishes to remarry. If both new partners have children from their previous marriages, this can present a whole new challenge.

These include:

• How to blend the families to accommodate this new family structure?
• How will everyone adjust, whether it’s the new siblings, the new stepparent or your new partner and your former spouse?
• How will you handle your relationship with your former spouse’s new partner and the family that they bring to the new marriage?

This can all be very complicated and despite the best intentions to have a “Brady Bunch” ideal, an entirely new set of issues is laid out before both families.

The parenting plan that you had so diligently worked on in your separation agreement may not work out as planned. How you manage to bring these new families together can be crucial to the happiness and well being of not only your children, but also to you and your new partner as well.

As mediators, we are skilled in helping to resolve high conflict issues. We will work with the entire family to create new strategies and craft realistic, workable solutions. This is the one place where all voices will be heard in a neutral setting. In that new environment, you will develop better communication skills that will enable you to come up with methods that will allow for better, more harmonious relationships within the new family structure.