How Jones Divorce & Family Law Works With High-Conflict Divorces, Clients and Parties
Navigating a high-conflict divorce can be overwhelming. Emotions run high, communication often breaks down, and disputes around children, finances, and property can intensify quickly. As Calgary divorce lawyers, we understand how stressful this process can be—especially when one party’s behaviour escalates conflict rather than resolving it.
At Jones Divorce & Family Law, we are highly experienced in managing high-conflict divorce. We know how to identify high-conflict dynamics early and move your file forward without getting entangled in the drama or distractions that often accompany these disputes.
Our Specialized Training in High-Conflict Divorce
Our lawyers dedicate significant time to ongoing training to enhance their skills in managing high-conflict clients and complex divorces. Many team members have completed specialized programs, including Bill Eddy’s courses and advanced training at Pepperdine University in California. Notably, several have participated in Working With High-Conflict Clients and Parties, a program developed by the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Institute of Canada and presented by Bill Eddy, co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of the High Conflict Institute.
This training is invaluable in family law, where high-conflict behaviours can prolong divorce cases unnecessarily, increase costs, and drain emotional resources. Our goal is to help you reach a fair and sustainable resolution as quickly as possible so that you can begin moving forward.
According to Eddy, high-conflict individuals display a consistent pattern of behaviour that escalates conflict rather than resolving it. These behaviours often include:
- Extreme mood swings and contradicting behaviour
- Bullying and verbally abusive conduct
- Making irrational demands and decisions
- Displaying all-or-nothing thinking
- Heightened, unmanaged, or unpredictable emotions
- Blaming others
- Pulling others into the conflict
Our lawyers are trained to identify these dynamics early, so we can structure the process to minimize escalation and keep your high-conflict divorce moving toward a resolution.
Leveraging Our Training
Armed with Eddy’s training, our team has developed a structured, skills-based approach designed to shift high-conflict dynamics when traditional strategies fall short. Rather than replacing effective techniques, the training provides professionals with new tools to reduce defensiveness, improve communication, and guide parties toward decision-making and practical solutions.
Eddy teaches simple skills such as:
- How to create more structure
- How to establish more active involvement
- Asking more questions
- Setting agendas and sticking to them
- Agreeing jointly on each small step of the process
- Making proposals
- Asking questions about proposals
- Responding respectfully to proposals
- Calmly demonstrating empathy, respect, and neutrality
Learning objectives of the workshop include:
- Identifying the conflict dynamics of the five types of high-conflict personalities
- Apply brain science to managing high-conflict clients with empathy, attention, and respect
- Reduce client resistance to positive problem-solving with a 2-step method
- Teach clients to make reasonable proposals, ask questions, and respond to proposals appropriately
- Provide a structured mediation approach designed for high-conflict personalities
- Educate high-conflict clients about choices and consequences for making decisions
Child Custody in High-Conflict Divorce
One of the most difficult aspects of a high-conflict divorce is determining child custody and parenting arrangements.
High-conflict personalities often struggle with co-parenting because they may:
- View parenting decisions as a battleground
- Resist compromise or shared decision-making
- Use children as leverage in disputes
- Engage in rigid, all-or-nothing thinking
- Misinterpret normal parenting disagreements as personal attacks
High-conflict individuals often blame others, react intensely to perceived criticism, and have difficulty regulating emotions. These traits can make cooperative parenting nearly impossible without structured support.
How We Help in High-Conflict Child Custody Cases:
- We focus on a child-first strategy that reduces emotional intensity and protects the children’s well-being
- We advocate for arrangements that prioritize stability, safety, and the child’s best interests.
- Our lawyers help you build a structured parenting plan with clear expectations, decision-making guidelines, and communication boundaries
- We can recommend tools like:
- Parallel parenting
- Communication apps
- Court-ordered assessments, where appropriate
In high-conflict cases, structure is essential. We work with you to create a plan that minimizes contact, reduces opportunities for conflict, and shields your children from unnecessary stress.
Jones Divorce & Family Law: Your Local Experts in High-Conflict Divorce
If you are faced with the challenge of a high-conflict divorce, we are here to help. The expert team at Jones Divorce & Family Law is trained, educated, and experienced in working with high-conflict situations effectively. We are here for you during what is often one of the most challenging times in your and your family’s life.
If you are ready to take the next step, contact Jones Divorce & Family Law for help filing for your divorce so you can move forward with confidence.
Disclaimer: The content provided in the blog posts of Jones Divorce & Family Law is general information and should not be considered legal advice. Please contact a lawyer for legal advice tailored to your specific situation. All articles are current as of their original publication date.
