What should I expect at the initial consultation with my divorce lawyer?

When you meet with a lawyer to discuss your divorce case you want to know something tangible.  You have hundreds of questions and worries floating around in your head.  How much with this cost?  What is the worst case scenario?  Will I lose my kids?  How long with this take?  And many more.The initial consultation is a time for you and the lawyer to get to know more about one another.  Your lawyer will likely ask you to complete a new client intake form.  This will ask information about you such as your address, date of birth and other personal information.  It will likely as for the same information about your spouse.Many forms also request information about the marriage such as the date of marriage, when you separated, the reason for the separation, number of children born during the marriage, and it will ask for what you are seeking in the divorce.  For example, do you want sole custody of the children?  Are you seeking a divorce on adultery or some other fault-based ground?  Are there assets and debts that need to be divided between you and your husband?This will help the lawyer to understand the level of complexity involved in the case.  Also, knowing the issues important to you, he can give you some direction about the law in those areas and can provide an overview of how the process works.Your lawyer cannot provide you with an exact game plan, certain results or even really exact legal advice at this time.  Great legal advice is based on knowing all of the specific facts of your case and there is usually not enough time to uncover all of that at an initial consultation.Think of the initial consultation as an interview.  All lawyers are ethically required to be competent in the areas they practice in, but that doesn’t mean all lawyers are equal.  Your personality will mesh with some lawyers and clash with others.  And, while lawyers love being retained for new cases, they don’t accept every case that comes through their doors.  So, understand that while you are determining if you can work with this lawyer, he is also trying to determine if he can work with you.So, at your initial consultation you should be looking to determine if this is a lawyer you feel has the knowledge necessary to provide you with the representation you need and if he is someone you feel comfortable working with.  Don’t select a lawyer just because that’s who your friend or family member used.  You should also try to get some questions answered, but understand that oftentimes at this stage of your case there is simply not enough information available for you to receive an exact answer.  The answer you receive will likely be qualified with lots of “ifs” based on how the facts play out.