First of all, that first meeting with your attorney shouldn't be solely for the purpose of preparing paperwork. You and your attorney need to get to know one another and you need to make your final decision about whether you believe you have chosen the right person to represent you. I give a 15 minute free consultation for that purpose, but I expect my client and I will still be getting to know one another during that first meeting or two. If you determine your attorney and you are not a good match during your first few meetings, you should politely state that you want to get another opinion from another attorney. You may owe your attorney a few hundred dollars for that meeting, but it's better to make the change then rather than after several weeks and months have passed and you have incurred thousands of dollars in legal expenses.
As far as what information you will need at your first meeting, I'd suggest having names, dates of birth and social security information available for you, your spouse and your minor children. That information will given to the Clerk of the District Court in a confidential manner so identity theft should not be an issue.
One of the required documents to prepare and file is a "Domestic Relations Affidavit" which would include your income, assets, debts and other personal information. I suggest my clients bring with them a recent pay stub, their last year's tax return, their bank account balances, and their most recent statements from their mortgage, car loans, credit cards, medical bills, school loans and related accounts. If you have a trust, you would need to bring the trust documents with you and your attorney will want to copy it. If your financial situation is not complicated and you want to save some money, ask your attorney if you can fill out your Domestic Relations Affidavit at home and return it to your lawyer. Some law offices will have online portals where you can provide all this information on your own time, again saving time and money.
If you have minor children bring along a list of the homes in which your children have resided over the last 5 years. And if there have been other legal matters that have involved your children, bring along the case names, case numbers and the states and counties where those actions were filed.
That ought to do it for your first meeting. Undoubtedly your attorney will need more information and he/she will give you what I call a homework assignment with additional data needed to prepare the Petition, Domestic Relations Affidavit and other documents in your case.
The information needed if your case involves domestic violence will be discussed in a later blog post.
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