I meet with several new clients each week. Each meeting is different. Some folks come to the office highly organized and ready to proceed. Others are not even sure if they want a divorce (divorce attorneys always know the best and worst marital counselors). Some come in, highly emotional, because their spouse is dictating the divorce.
No matter which category you fall into, or none of the above, your financial knowledge is going to be important to your divorce attorney.
Try to organize all financial documents as best as you can. Review them and make a list of questions for your divorce attorney. If he or she cannot answer them, make an appointment with someone else.
You will always want to err on the side of telling your divorce attorney more, as opposed to less. We can weed out what we need to, but if there is something we do not know, we cannot help you with it.
Tell your divorce attorney the good, the bad and the ugly, no matter how embarrassing you may think it is. Trust me, there is nothing you can say to shock a highly experienced divorce attorney, because we have seen and heard it all.
Here are some don’ts. Do not lie to your divorce lawyer. Do not hide any information from your divorce lawyer. It will always come back to hurt you. Do not ignore calls and letters and emails from your divorce lawyer.
Calls and emails are great, in moderation. Keep lists of what you need to say to your law and either call, make an appointment or send an email with your list of questions.
Please organize your documents. We do not need to make more money from you by having to go through your box filled with documents, or your shopping bag filled with documents. If you are not tech savvy, now is the time to learn to scan your documents and then either email them to us or use Drop Box or a similar program to share them with us.
The divorce attorney’s biggest pet peeve is the client who signs an agreement that has financial consequences before the attorney reviews it and discusses it with the client. It is very difficult to undo some damage.
So, what is the message to this blog? When you are going through your divorce, you need to choose your divorce attorney well, and then you need to trust and cooperate with him or her. You need to have high expectations of your divorce attorney, and if they are not being met, you need to promptly discuss it with him or her.
