What to Take With You to Court

Find yourself wondering what you should take to court?

Here is the list of what I personally take:

1. Your Case Binder. We will talk more about what goes into your case binder later, but make sure you have all of the paperwork you need. I even like to have past paperwork so that I can reference things that have already been said or submitted. Think about it this way: if you don't have it with you, you won't be able to access it. My lawyer brings his laptop for all of this.

2. Pen and paper. Few reasons:

• I am rarely able to take notes because everything is happening so fast, but it is good to have the option. 
• Sometimes you will want to say something to your lawyer and it isn't always easy to. Your lawyer has to be able to listen to what is going on in the room and what you have to say sometimes has to wait. So, sometimes I have written down what I want to tell him and he then looks at it when he is able to.

3. Water bottle or at least a mint. If you get nervous and your mouth gets dry you will need something. You can't just excuse yourself to go get a drink. 

4. If you are a girl, take an extra hair clip or something. You want to look nice, and you don't want to be worrying that you look scroungy.

5. Money. Your court house may charge for parking. You will also need money if you need to make emergency copies of something. Which is not necessarily available wherever you are.

6. Your ID. You never know when you will need your id for something. I don't think I've ever used mine, but it is a generally good thing to have.

I am sure there are other things that I will think of, but in the mean time this list is a good place to start.

Tip: Get it in writing!

In my experience, things are much clearer and admissible when in writing. Then it isn't your word against theirs, and things are a lot more sure. Email is great for this. Texts are harder to submit, but at least they are written material. Once it's written it can't be taken back as easily. It is what it is.

Made a deal with your ex that may change a visitation schedule? Get it in writing.

Have a friend that witnessed something? Have them write it down and get it notorized. I tried this once. I don't know how successful it was, but at least I had it.

Save your emails, save your texts.

GET IT IN WRITING!!!!!!!!!!

Uncontested Divorce

What is an uncontested Divorce?

An Uncontested Divorce is when both parties agree to the divorce and all of the issues involved, meaning that the court doesn't need to get involved in most of it.



My source articles (which you should go read too): 

http://divorcesupport.about.com/od/typesofdivorc1/f/uncontested_divorce.htm


http://www.attorneys.com/divorce/uncontested-divorce/



The one from attorneys.com also lists pros and cons of an uncontested divorce.

Meet With Your Lawyer Before Hearings

If you have a hearing scheduled, I would suggest that you plan to meet with your lawyer for a few minutes ahead of time to do the following:

1. Make sure that you are both on the same page. You both have things that you may want to say to each other. Maybe they want to give some advice, maybe you want to tell them what your priorities are, maybe one of you has an update. Also, lawyers have lots of cases, so it might be a good idea to take a couple of minutes to get them into the swing of your case.

2. This way you will both be on time. I have never had a lawyer be anywhere near late to a hearing, but I have seen their clients be late to hearings. Don't be late!!!!!!!!!!!

3. I personally feel calmer and not so rushed when I have had a chance to meet with my lawyer before a hearing. Not only have I been in the courthouse for a few minutes, but I have talked with my attorney and we've gone over the issues.

4. I have dealt with a few attorneys in my experience, and they have each had different jobs and levels of professionalism. One time the attorney who always argued my case in court showed up without having even read our paperwork and motion. It was a different, awesome attorney who always did the paperwork.

Well, where did that leave me? No where good. I was so upset. But luckily we had planned to meet half an hour ahead of time and I was able to catch him up on a couple of things.

Now, that is a much longer story than I just relayed. And the situation with that attorney went downhill very fast. But you get the point.

ALWAYS MEET AHEAD OF TIME!!!!!!!!!