You’ve just scheduled a consultation with a divorce attorney.
First of all, this is a huge step toward securing the future you want for yourself. We know the process seems daunting right now. But it’s our job as attorneys to help demystify the process — and that’s exactly what we’ll do at your first consultation.
From there, we’ll be with you every step of the way, helping you to understand your options and assisting you in choosing the path that’s best for you.
Let’s dive in.
1. What is your current living arrangement?
Your lawyer will want to know your current living situation and whether it is beneficial to you, regardless of whether you and your husband are living apart, together, or under another arrangement.
This is necessary because your attorney will want to know if you and your spouse share a home — the value of the marital home is often divided equally between the two partners.
If you have children or other family members living with you, your lawyer must be informed of this as well. If so, it will have an effect on the divorce process.
2. If you and your spouse are separated, how long have you been apart?
If you and your spouse are currently living apart, your lawyer will need to know for how long you have been separated.
This is because decisions on child custody, alimony, property division, and other matters may sometimes be affected by periods of physical separation.
3. Do you and your spouse share children?
Among the most difficult parts of divorce are the issues of child custody and child support. Your divorce attorney will go over with you the many types of custody arrangements, how child support is calculated, and how the court decides custody.
In order to develop a strategy to defend your parental rights, your divorce lawyer will also want to know what your goals are.
4. What are your top priorities?
At our firm, we sometimes phrase this question as, “What keeps you up at night?” This often helps our clients get to the heart of the matter — the most important issues in their divorce that they want to make sure their attorney fights for.
Perhaps you aren’t the breadwinner of the family, and you’re afraid you’ll be left with nothing if you pursue divorce. Or, alternatively, you may be concerned that everything you’ve worked so hard for will just be handed to your partner in a divorce.
Knowing your non-negotiables will make it easier for your lawyer to develop a plan of action to help you. The sooner they are aware of your goals, the better, so your attorney can work to make sure that you get what is most important to you.
5. What are your current real estate assets?
If you or your spouse own property, your attorney will need to know how it is named (i.e. are you both on the title, is it held by a trust, is it owned by a business, etc?)…