How to Prepare for Meeting your Divorce Lawyer

Meeting with your divorce lawyer, especially for the first time, is essential. It allows you to access the attorney’s experience and competence. You also get to establish expectations about your divorce outcome. However, because divorce laws work differently from place to place, experienced divorce lawyers like those from The Siemon Law Firm recommend that you prepare for your meeting with your lawyer because it brings other benefits, including establishing excellent communication and more.

Writing Down Vital Information

Regardless of the cause of your divorce, emotions sometimes interfere with your ability to remember things correctly, especially when you’re the most affected spouse. Writing down vital information the lawyer needs to process and verify the possibility of your divorce outcome helps save time and effort. Information to give includes your full name and spouse, phone numbers, dates of births, social security numbers, and everyone’s home address. Write down all children’s names, their date of birth, and any vital information about them, including ages. List your spouse’s occupation, annual income, and employers. Jot down identifying information of whether you or your spouse has children outside your marriage. Write down the date of your marriage and the date you started having conflicts. If any of you moved out of the house, give detailed information about what transpired.

Identify and Prepare Details of Matters You Want to be Prioritized

Divorces happen due to different causes. Before meeting your lawyer, identify the major causes of your separation and ascertain their credibility. Some of the things to determine are child support, custody, spousal support, property division, and alimony. Explain to your attorney how you want the matter to be handled based on its effects on your well-being. If the divorce is adversely affecting your health and physiological status, request if the attorney finds it well to extend the hearing and such. Ask the lawyer to explain how the legal process works for the matter, especially if you’re not well-versed about such issues. Get information and guidance on how to ask and answer questions during court sessions. Ask about how to fight for your rights if you’re the one at fault and think your spouse might deny you custody and other essential rights as a parent.

Also, Read:

Why Do You Need a Family Lawyer for an Uncontested Divorce in Las Vegas?

Identify Your Goals Towards the Separation

Regardless of whether you’re at fault or not, every spouse always anticipates something from a divorce. Whether you prioritize the division of marital properties, child custody, or anything else, make it known to your lawyer during the meeting. Meeting your separation lawyer with a concrete grasp of what you hope for and desire while separating from your spouse helps your lawyer guide you accordingly. Talk to the lawyer and ask how you can attain those goals without affecting your odds of having your rights served. This is essential because the law might assume you caused the separation intentionally.

• In regard to this, also consider reading: Divorce Attorney Explains How Manipulating Your Spouse Can Make Your Relationship Better

Gather all the Relevant Documentation Needed to Pursue Your Divorce Successfully

Presenting your lawyer with all the relevant documents makes it easy for them to finish the matter quickly, mainly if taking a long time affects your well-being. These documents depend on the legal matters surrounding your separation, including causes. Present the attorney with documents such as:

Child Support Documents:

Based on who is asserting the child support between you and your spouse, present your recent-pay records and statements to your attorney in the first meeting. Provide other documents, including your tax returns and lists of your children’s extracurricular activities and their costs. You’ll also present lists of medical expenses for the kids and amounts for their tuition and daycare expenses. Other documents to present are health insurance and your annual wage reports.

Marital Property Vision Documents:

Whether you share ownership of properties or not, bring documents, including title deeds. The lawyer will use these documents to assess the equitability of sharing your marital belongings.  They will also use the information to access the values of such properties.  They will also ascertain if your spouse’s net worth increased when you lived as a couple and more. Doing this helps make a strong case against a spouse who wants to deny equality when sharing properties. 

Documents of Liabilities and Debts:

Besides presenting custody documents and sharing marital properties, present your lawyer with information regarding marital liabilities and debts. Some of the documents under this category include student loans, business loans, credit cards, and mortgages.

Spousal Support Documents:

Based on your financial status, especially if you’re the divorce filing spouse, the law will use your financial ability to set the spousal support needed to support your ex. Provide your lawyer with information such as income sources and primary occupation for their assessment for spousal support.