If you have a first meeting coming up with a family-law attorney, you have probably already been handed a long intake list — or you are about to be. It can feel like homework you did not ask for, on top of everything else. The good news: most attorneys need the same handful of things, and once you understand why each one matters, gathering it becomes a lot less overwhelming.
This is a plain-English checklist of what divorce and custody lawyers typically ask for, why each item earns its place, and a calmer way to keep it all in one place so you are not assembling it in a panic the night before.
One note before we start: CoreParent is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. This is general information to help you prepare. What you actually need varies by state and by the specifics of your case, so treat the list below as a starting point and confirm the exact requirements with a licensed family-law attorney in your state.
The short answer: five buckets
Almost everything a family-law attorney asks for falls into one of five categories. If you can pull these together, you will walk in far more prepared than most clients do.
- Your finances — income, monthly expenses, and a picture of assets and debts. Custody and support both turn on the numbers, so this is usually where attorneys start. Recent pay stubs, the last year or two of tax returns, bank and credit-card statements, retirement and investment accounts, and a list of debts (mortgage, car loans, cards). This is what shapes child support, spousal support, and how property gets divided.
- Your parenting plan or proposed schedule — what you are actually asking for. An attorney cannot advocate for an arrangement you have not described. A written plan or proposed custody schedule — even a rough draft — tells them your goals on physical custody, holidays, decision-making, and transitions, and gives them a concrete starting point instead of a blank page.
- A communication record and timeline of key incidents — the story, in order, with dates. Missed exchanges, last-minute schedule changes, concerning messages, safety issues — these matter, but only if you can show when they happened and what was said. A dated timeline turns "my ex is always late" into something an attorney can work with.
- The kids' essentials — medical, school, and provider information. Insurance cards, pediatrician and specialist contacts, current medications and allergies, the school and any special-education or therapy details. This grounds the conversation about the children's actual day-to-day needs, and it is often needed for the plan itself.
- Existing court orders and agreements — anything already on the record. Temporary orders, an existing custody or support order, a prior separation agreement, protective orders, or a prenup. Your attorney needs to know the legal starting line before they can advise on the next step.
The full checklist
Here is the same thing broken down into items you can tick off as you go. Not every line applies to every case — skip what does not fit yours.
- Income: recent pay stubs, last 1–2 years of tax returns and W-2s/1099s, and documentation of any other income.
- Expenses: a monthly budget or list of recurring costs — housing, childcare, insurance, the children's expenses.
- Assets: bank accounts, retirement and investment accounts, real estate, vehicles, and anything of significant value.
- Debts: mortgage, car loans, student loans, credit cards, and any shared obligations.
- Parenting plan: your proposed custody schedule, holiday plan, and decision-making preferences — in writing.
- Timeline: a dated list of key incidents, exchanges, and conversations relevant to custody.
- Communication record: saved messages or a log that backs up the timeline.
- Kids' medical: insurance cards, providers, medications, allergies, and any ongoing treatment.
- Kids' school: the school, report cards, and any IEP, 504 plan, or special-needs documentation.
- Existing orders: any current or temporary court orders, prior agreements, protective orders, or a prenup.
- Expense records: receipts and proof of what you have paid toward the children's care.
The real problem isn't the list — it's where it lives
Look back at that checklist and notice something: almost none of it lives in one place. Pay stubs are in email. The "timeline" is scattered across texts, a notes app, and your memory. The insurance card is a photo somewhere in your camera roll. The last court order is a PDF an old attorney sent two years ago. Receipts are in three different inboxes.
So when an attorney says "send me the most recent custody order and your expense records by Friday," the work isn't deciding what to send — it's the miserable hour of digging through folders, screenshots, and threads to find it, usually under a deadline, usually while you are already stretched thin. That scramble is the part nobody warns you about, and it is the part CoreParent is built to remove.
How CoreParent keeps it all in one place
The idea is simple: gather these things before you are under pressure, in one app, structured the way an attorney will want them. Then handing anything over is one tap instead of an evening of searching.
- The Vault holds your documents. Court orders, agreements, medical and insurance cards, receipts, and statements live in one place — the family document vault — instead of being scattered across your phone and inboxes. When you need a file, you are not hunting for it.
- Your plan and expenses are already structured. The parenting plan builder produces a court-formatted plan as a PDF or Word file, and expense tracking with payment requests keeps a running record of who paid for what. These are not loose notes — they are organized the way they will be reviewed.
- Your Journal is your timeline. The private, dated Journal becomes the chronological record attorneys ask for — incidents logged when they happen, with dates attached, instead of reconstructed from memory months later. (For more on this, see what to document in a custody dispute.)
- Sharing is one tap, and you stay in control. If your attorney also uses CoreParent, you can share your plan, expenses, and timeline through the attorney workspace. When they need a specific file, they request it — and you send it from your vault in one tap. You confirm every single send. Nothing leaves your vault automatically.
That last point matters. The attorney asks for the document by name; you see exactly what is being requested; you tap to send it; and only then does it leave your vault. No bulk access, no surprise sharing — just the one file they asked for, when you decide to send it.
A calmer way to walk in prepared
You do not need every item above polished to perfection before your first meeting. Attorneys would rather you arrive with an organized start and gaps clearly marked than with nothing at all. If you only do one thing this week, start a timeline and pull your most recent court order and pay stubs into one place — that alone puts you ahead.
And remember the disclaimer that runs through all of this: the exact documents you need depend on your state and your case. CoreParent gives you general information and a place to keep everything organized — your attorney gives you the legal advice. If you want help thinking through what to bring, our guide on how to prepare for your first family-law consult walks through the meeting itself. And if you are an attorney, here is how the attorney workspace works.
If you get stuck setting up your vault or sharing a document, we are happy to help — just email support@thecoreparent.com.