Arline Kardasis, Rikk Larsen, Crystal Thorpe, and Blair Trippe. Mom Always Liked You Best: A Guide to Resolving Family Feuds, Inheritance Battles & Eldercare Crises. Elder Decisions. 2011. 123 pages.
$14.95 from Amazon (Click on book to order).
Making decisions about elderly parents can cause conflict even in the best of families. In this book, three experienced elder mediators provide step-by-step advice and tools for managing disputes with siblings about elder care, inheritance issues and estate planning.
The authors of Mom Always Liked You Best are co-founders of Elder Decisions a mediation, training and consulting firm that specializes in helping families resolve disagreements. Drawing on the authors’ experiences with getting siblings to compromise, the book discusses how to use negotiating tools to work through issues. The authors explain the importance of understanding the underlying interests behind the dispute before discussing solutions and using active listening techniques to better understand where siblings are coming from.
Though the subject matter is similar to They’re Your Parents, Too! this book is more technical, offering very specific techniques for finding middle ground with siblings. Mom Always Liked You Best is another good choice for families who need help settling adult family conflicts.