What To Bring To Your First Meeting With The Attorney
Our goal in our initial meeting is to put you at ease and give you a realistic idea of what to expect during your divorce. You don’t need to worry about having every document related to the divorce at the first meeting, but there are a few things we will need to see in order to give you a worthwhile evaluation of what to expect.
You will need to bring these basic documents to the meeting:
- Copies of any pleadings or motion papers already served to you or your spouse; and, if applicable, proposed settlement agreement drafts
- Most recent tax returns
- Preliminary schedules of assets and liabilities, and monthly income and expenses
Bring only copies of tax returns and financial statements to our office. Leave the original documents in place so that the other party won’t notice they’re missing.
If you hire us after our initial consultation, we will need to look at:
- Deeds and purchase documents for house and/or other real property holdings
- Premarital and/or marital property agreements (if any)
- Automobile registration certificates
- Federal and state income tax returns for the past several years (at least the last three years)
- Stock, bond and other investment records
- Insurance policies
- Pension and retirement benefit plans
- Bank checkbooks, passbooks and statements
- Other documents substantiating claims of separate property
There may be other documents we need to see as well, but this list covers the majority of items needed in a divorce proceeding for most people. After our initial consultation, we will work closely with you to help gather the necessary documents and make sure all paperwork is in order.
Contact The Divorce Lawyers At Rita Holder Law
If you’ve made the decision to get divorced, contact the law offices of Rita Holder Law by calling 925-401-7885 or fill out our online contact form to set up an initial consultation.