You may be wondering what information your attorney will need for a San Diego divorce case. If this is your first visit to a family law attorney you are probably wondering what to gather and bring to the meeting? The Certified Family Law Specialists at Burke & Domercq will provide you with a specific list of information to gather for your initial meeting. You will probably leave that meeting with some additional information to gather. That’s alright. The real purpose of the first meeting is to talk about your unique circumstances, what you want to accomplish and how our experienced attorneys can help you to accomplish that.
Generally speaking it is important to begin to organize several pieces of information at the outset of a divorce. A good place to begin is tax returns and W2’s. Gather 3 years of personal tax returns and W2s for you and your spouse. If either of you own your own a business, an interest in a business or have a professional practice you may want to gather 5 years of personal and business returns.
Do you own vehicles? Our attorneys need to know the purchase date and price of the vehicle and all available information about any secured lender or leasing company such as the amount of the payment, term remaining and/or balance owed.
Do you own real estate? It is helpful to organize the closing documents for each property as well as any information relating to the financing (or re-financing) of the property.
The information your attorney will need for a San Diego divorce case also includes any retirement accounts, 401(k)s, pensions, state or teacher’s retirement accounts, etc., for each party. If there are stocks, stock options, investment accounts or other investment-related financial instruments or accounts bring as much information as you can regarding how they were acquired, the original purchase price and an estimate of present value.
If you or your spouse have an interest in a business or professional practice the information your attorney will need for a San Diego divorce case includes the tax returns mentioned above, as well as profit and loss statements for the company and balance sheets for the past 5 years. It is also helpful to have account statements from the bank account(s) of the business for the same period of time.
While it is not necessary to have everything copied, organized and ready for the first meeting it will be helpful to know as much as possible so that we can fully understand your case and begin to develop the strategies required to protect your interests. Our attorneys will ask you “What are you most afraid of,” or “What concerns you most?” We’ll answer your questions and help you to gain strength and insight into the process.