Consultations with lawyers are expensive. You want to make sure you get the best value for your money when going to the first consultation with a lawyer. Here is a checklist of information to assemble and steps to take to ensure your consultation with a lawyer is successful:
1. Marriage certificate, if you have it. If you do not, consider ordering a copy – they are relatively inexpensive. For an Alberta marriage certificate: http://www.servicealberta.ca/1158.cfm. For a British Columbia marriage certificate: https://www.vs.gov.bc.ca/marriage/certificate.html.
2. A summary of basic information:
Birthdate and place of birth for yourself and spouse,
Contact information for yourself – address, phone number, email,
Contact information for your spouse – address, phone number, email,
Picture of spouse, and
Full names and birthdates for children.
3. Your financial disclosure. See my articles in the Resources section of this website: http://www.islandfamilylawyers.com/Resources.aspx. If you cannot put together your full disclosure before your consultation, put together a high level summary of your assets, liabilities, and the income for you and your spouse.
4. Copies of all court documents, and any agreements between you and your spouse.
5. A summary narrative about your relationship and its breakdown.
6. A summary of the questions you want to have answered by your lawyer. Make sure you raise all of the specific concerns you have with the lawyer, to get prompt answers for the issues that are the most pressing, or that matter most to you.
For many people, an initial consultation with a lawyer is all they need to assist them in working out a settlement to their separation and divorce themselves, or through mediation. Let me know if I can assist you in this way.
