Here’s how I encourage most folks to prepare for a coaching session with me at Alabama Family Law Center. Every person going through divorce or separation is different, of course, and you may know a good reason why one of these suggestions is inappropriate for you. In general, though, they’re a good guide for most of my clients:
- Take time before we meet to write down your questions. That’s not because those are the only questions you get to ask; my coaching sessions are free-flowing and unconfined. However, if you’re going through separation or divorce, you are in crisis. You don’t process information as quickly as you did before, you don’t keep your temper as well as you did before, and you don’t remember as well as you did before. Later on, you’ll be fine again, but right now, things slip your mind easily. If you write down your questions, you’ll be more likely to remember those things that are most important to you.
- Gather as much information as you can about the issues you and your spouse are facing. If you’re concerned about property division, gather information about what you and your spouse own and what the two of you owe, using the do-it-yourself inventory. If you’re concerned about alimony, gather information about income andexpenses for each of you. Whatever the issue you want to find out about, gather information that will relate to that issue – you get the idea. If these terms are new to you, spend some time learning about the main issues of divorce.
- There’s no need to send me information before our session; just bring it with you when you come.
- Consider bringing a buddy with you. Remember what we said about crisis? It may be helpful to have an extra pair of eyes and ears, not just to help you to remember what to ask but also to help remember what I said in the session. Because it may be important for purposes of attorney-client privilege, there may be moments when I ask your buddy to excuse us so you and I can visit alone, but in general, it’s okay for your buddy to be present for most of the session. Even if you don’t bring a buddy with you when we meet, you may want to review with someone the questions you plan to ask. Your friend may think of something to ask that you haven’t thought about.
- Please come prepared to pay for your session when we finish. That makes life more pleasant for both of us. I take cash. checks, Visa, and Mastercard. The charge is $200 per hour, and I measure time in tenths of an hour. So if you and I talk for 32 minutes, that’s 6/10 of an hour, and I will ask you to pay me $120 when we finish.
- You may also want to read the Coaching Agreement I’ll ask you to sign. I seldom have anybody object to anything in it, but it never hurts to have a better idea what to expect.
No representation is made that the quality of the legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.