When asked “what should I do to Prepare for an up coming Divorce?” I tell my clients, start to document things like Parenting time and participation by each party. Document who are the children most bonded to. Also document any Parenting Arrangements by both parties if you are already are separated.

Gather Financial information - This is extremely helpful and will save you money down the road. Gathering retirement accounts, IRA’s, 401(k)s SEP’s, Stock Accounts, including those online only accounts like Robinhood etc.

Bank Accounts seem hard now days to gather information, as everything is moving online and many are no longer verified on paper.

Subpoena Financial Accounts (a Subpeona is a a writ ordering a person to attend a court) - This process can take up to or around 60 days, and cost typically is $1,000 per account Subpoena. The Subpoena needs to be personally served to the banks and we are required to pay the Bank/Edward Jones/etc for researching and printing and mailing the documents. This can look something like 2-5 banks, credit unions, Boeing/place of business, etc.

Relocation is a special circumstance - Please seek a consult about this.

If you move out of the family home without your children we will not be able to get you Temporary Custody of them. If you move out, we will not be able to get you placed back in the home. There are exceptions to these but very rarely can this happen. If moving out of the Family home, you need to take with you all your belongings and those things you care about or you might never get them. Most times the fight to get pets, tools, collections, furniture will exceed the value. Things seem to disappear quickly once Papers are filed. This includes liquid assets. This would be vital to obtain a consult from an expert prior to taking these actions. It is good to document cash, collections titles.. the Court required two year Tax Returns, and recent paystubs from each party. The I.R.S. Is backlogged almost a year on proving Tax Returns due to COVID.