During your first visit to my office I will ask you a series of questions to obtain the background information I need to give you advice. These questions include:
- Yours and your spouse’s names
- Yours and your spouse’s dates of birth
- Addresses
- Date you started living together
- Date and place of your marriage (if any)
- Date of your separation
- Names and birthdates of your children, where they were born and whether or not they have any special needs or learning disabilities
- Yours and your spouse’s occupations and gross annual incomes before taxes
- A description of all of your property and debts
- What property you and your spouse each had when you started living together and if you inherited or were gifted any property
Some of the documents I will need are listing below. You do not necessarily need to bring these documents in on your first visit to my office:
- Marriage Certificate as issued by Vital Statistics (if applicable)
- Personal Income Tax Returns for the last 3 years
- Notices of Assessment as issued by Canada Revenue for the last 3 years
- Current pay statement
- Corporate Financial Statements for any companies which you own shares in for the last 3 years
- Corporate Income Tax Returns for any companies which you own shares in for the last 3 years
- BC Notices of Assessment for any real property which you hold an interest in
- Copies of your RRSP, investment, bank account and debt statements as of the date of your cohabitation and the date of your separation
At some point you will be asked to complete a Financial Statement (Form 8) which is a notarized sworn document disclosing your income, expenses, property and debt.
