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Things To Bring During First Divorce Meeting

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If you have scheduled an appointment with a divorce lawyer, you should prepare for the meeting properly. Thorough preparation will help you get the maximum benefit of the lawyer's skills and experience right from the initial meeting. Here are some of the preparations tips that will help:

Confirm You Really Want a Divorce

It is a waste of resources to hire a divorce attorney just to threaten your spouse. What if you file for divorce as a threat and then your partner takes it seriously? It would be difficult to stop such a divorce even if you want to do it. In fact, you can even spur your partner to file for a divorce even if they hadn't meant to do it. Therefore, ensure you have made up your mind to divorce your spouse before setting up an appointment with the attorney.

Have a General Idea of Your Finances

Financial issues form a big part of divorce proceedings. Therefore, you should get your finances in order and brush up your knowledge of your family's finances before meeting with the lawyer. In fact, you should have copies of relevant financial documents when meeting the lawyer. Here is some of the information you should have at hand:

  • Your assets, debts, and liabilities
  • Your respective incomes
  • Tax returns
  • Bank statements

Have a Clear Idea of Your Goals

You also need to have a clear idea of what you want the divorce settlement to look like. Sure, you may not be able to achieve all of your goals, but the attorney should at least know what you are aiming at. Do you want to keep the marital home? Do you want spousal support, and how much? What kind of custody arrangement do you think is best for the kids? These are some of the questions to answer because their answers are your divorce goals.

Prepare a List of Questions to Ask

Lastly, there are also things you should know about your divorce attorney, and you can only know them if you ask questions. For example, you should know about the attorney's experience, how much they charge, what the charges include, and what the attorney expects from you, among other things.

Hopefully, you will be well prepared for your meeting with the divorce lawyer and you will get along well right from the start. Don't worry too much, however, if you do forget some of the above things because your lawyer will remind you of what you should do or avail for your subsequent meeting. Contact a firm, like Franklin & Rapp, for more help.


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