Quick first offers do not help negotiations. Usually, these negotiations result in a good deal for only one party: the one who is well prepared with the information. While I have sometimes recommended immediate "quickie" offers that are intended to be final, only rarely are these offers accepted, even when the opening offer was fair. Usually, if one side has only a limited amount of information about the assets of the marriage, a quick offer is inappropriate. Even if a quickie offer is fair and reasonable, the person accepting the offer is likely to later have "buyer's remorse" due to the possibility of having missed out on something at the bargaining table. That is simply human nature. It is far better to make the other side work a little bit in order to feel that the offer was well earned.

In the few circumstances where a quick first offer was accepted, both sides were represented by competent counsel, the issues were relatively simple (short marriage, no children, very little marital property to divide, both spouses fully employed, etc.), and there had been a brief but complete exchange of financial information between the spouses' attorneys prior to the offer.

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