Thank you for joining me. My name is LaSheena Williams, and I am a Maryland family law attorney. My firm helps our clients take control of out-of-control domestic situations. Today we will be discussing what to bring to your case strategy meetings.
What is a case strategy meeting?
At the Law Office of LaSheena Williams, we think it’s important for us to start your case understanding what your goals are and the preliminary information to make sure that you can at least plan your case according to your needs. So, initially we hold a case strategy meeting shortly after a scheduling conference or shortly after our office is retained to make sure that we are on the same page about where the case has been and where the case should be going for us to make sure that we can get as close to meeting your goals as possible.
Your Case Goals
You need to bring the goals for your case to the case strategy meeting. What are the outcomes that you want to see happen? Do you just want an absolute divorce, you could care less about property? Do you want to make sure you can maintain a certain number of property assets, whether it’s the house you inherited or the retirement account that you’ve had for 20 years prior to your marriage? Do you want to make sure that you have a very robust custody schedule, and that the child support is fair? Do you want to make sure that there’s no child support at all? What do you want to happen out of this case? We need to understand what your expectations are so that we can try to get as close to those expectations as possible.
Your Income Information
One of the things we need initially is your basic information. Now, a lot of that information can be provided through our client intake form, but if you have not provided that information on your client intake form, you need to provide us with your basic income information, the names of your employers. Then if you’re a contractor, who do you have contracts with and what are the terms of those contracts? Do you have any other source of income that goes beyond you being a W-2 earner? Where can we find that information so that we can know what we need to do with that information? That is the goal in your case strategy meeting.
Your Spouse’s Income Information
One of the things that can help us significantly in dealing with making sure we meet your goals during your trial is to have as much information about your spouse as possible on the outset. A lot of people don’t know a lot about their spouse’s income, they don’t know how much they earn, they don’t know what banks they bank with, they don’t even know if their spouse has retirement accounts, but what information you do have can help us get to the information we need. So, if you know your spouse is employed with a certain agency, but you have no idea what your spouse earns, we can subpoena that agency to get their employment records, to find out how much they earn, to find out if they have any other benefits. There are lots of things we can do with even minimal information from you and it’s important to bring as much information as possible to make sure that we can get what you need in moving your case forward.
Any Lawyer Contact Info
If you had a former lawyer, it would be helpful if we had their contact information in case there’s any documents missing from the documents you’ve provided to us. It’s also helpful if you have any contact information for your spouse or your co-parent’s lawyer. If we must reach out to the lawyer and we have to check in to see if we can reach an agreement on certain terms or if we can’t reach an agreement, it’s important for us to be able to get in contact with them especially if there’s a situation where there’s been no pleadings filed yet.
Any Initial Documents you need to Provide
At my firm, I believe it’s important to get as much information as possible on the outset. So, what we would like to do is get that information from you. You can provide whatever documentation you have available at the beginning and at the case strategy session. We will make sure to let you know what other documents we need from you to make sure that we are ahead of any discovery deadlines or any discovery issues as much as possible.
Child Related History (Access, Support, Schedule)
If you have any children in your case, whether you’re in a custody case or divorce case, we need as much information about your children as possible, especially if custody is in dispute. We need to know what schools they’re attending, if they have school calendars in these jurisdictions, with the private school the calendar might be different, their grades on their report cards. We need to know if they’re in any IEPs. We need to know who their care providers are. We need to know any expenses regarding their childcare, any expenses regarding their health, any transportation expenses, any private school expenses, whatever might be at issue in your child custody case what you have at the outset will greatly help us in moving forward so that we are prepared to address those concerns when they arise.
If you have any questions about what to bring to your initial case strategy meeting or any other questions regarding your divorce, custody, domestic violence, or enforcement matter, contact the Law Office of LaSheena M. Williams at (301) 778 – 9950 or leave an online request for a consultation.
