First Appointment with Family Law Attorney

Many times people ask what they need to bring to their first appointment in discussing a divorce.  In the first appointment, the attorney attempts to assess the following things:

• What are the reasons for the divorce?
• Whether there is provable fault by either party
• What the child rearing has been and what are likely custody outcomes
• What the finances are: how would assets be divided, how would each person survive in the event of a divorce
• What the client is hoping to achieve in the long term

As a part of this process, the attorney will advise the clients on the basics of the laws on how to divorce, custody, division of property, and child and spousal support. At the conclusion of the assessment, the attorney can provide options and perhaps make a recommendation.  What can the client do to facilitate the best possible first appointment?

• Court Documents: If there has been a court filing, the client must bring previously filed documents. The last order entered by a court is an absolute must if the client is seeking post divorce advice. Certainly, if a client has recently been sued, the client must bring the suit and the summons served upon them and be prepared to say exactly when the papers were handed to them.
• Financial documents: (Note: the idea is to provide a basic understanding of the finances. Detail will be developed later)
  • Financial statements given by either party to lenders if you have them
  • basic financial statements prepared by either party
  • the latest pay stub for both parties if you have them
  • the latest statements for savings, stock and pension accounts if you have them (Note: the attorney will be interested in a basic idea of what was acquired during the marriage versus what was acquired before the marriage and what was received by gift during the marriage.)
  • Tax returns for the last three years if you have them
  • a social security earnings history if you have one
• Basic Timeline of Events: (Too much detail would not be useful in an initial assessment)
• Proof of Fault: such as telephone records, copies from Facebook, letters, recordings, pictures, cards, etc, pictures of bruises, doctor bills from abuse, etc.
• Payment: Oftentimes it is important to protect against the other party knowing about the appointment, so make arrangements to pay by a method the other spouse will not be able to detect, such as cash or cashiers check or checking account to which the other spouse does not have access.  Additionally, the ability to pay some retainer is a most.  Coming to a consultation with the ability to pay nothing is not economical for most any attorney.