Useful Steps to Take if you are Considering Filling for Divorce:

1) Gather financial statements
2) Gather your tax returns
3) Having a copy of your computer hard drive can be useful.
4) Having a copy of the deed to the house or property owned.
5) Document what assets are kept in the home you and your spouse live in.
6) Find your spouses recent pay stubs from the past few months and make a copy.
7) Items of monetary value such as jewelry or any collectibles should also be accounted for with the proper documentation.

Furthermore, ensure to make a copy of any financial items or documents that may be asked for in court. Having documents available regarding assets shared should ease the divorce process quite a bit.

This not only eases the process of divorce for you and your spouse it also makes the process a lot faster for the Orange County divorce attorney assisting you in this matter.

Do I need to hire an Orange County divorce lawyer?

If you are unsure if you need a divorce attorney, ask yourself the following before you proceed on our own with the divorce proceedings:

1. Do I comprehend the forms that I need to file in order to proceed without a lawyer?

2. Do we have children?

3. Do we have large assets, pensions, 401(K)s and/or liabilities that need to be separated?

4. Is my spouse going to contest any portions of our divorce that may necessitate Court intervention and guidance?

5. Do I have any doubts about whether I am agreeing to do something that I'm not legally required to do or waiving something that I may be legally entitled to?

If you responded yes to any of the questions above, it is in your best interests to at the very least consult with a family law divorce attorney.

The following are common characteristics of a person who does not need an attorney to assist them in a divorce:

1. The parties have no children or sizeable assets that need to be separated and/or have already divided all of their assets and liabilities;

2. The person comprehends all of the divorce documents and is perfectly capable of filing them out without the assistance of a lawyer;

3. Not in a hurry and have no specific time line that they are looking for to finalize their divorce;

4. The funds that it would take to hire a lawyer is more than the value of the assets or debts the parties are contesting;

5. Alimony or child support is not at concern.