Family law intake form: what to ask, then what to collect

A new divorce enquiry lands at 4.40 on a Friday. By the time you call back on Monday, you know her first name, that there are two children, and that "he handles all the money".

You do not know the date of separation, whether there is a house, or whether anyone is at risk.

That gap is what an intake form is for. Done well, it gets you the facts before the first consultation.

It also sets up the harder job that follows: getting a year of bank statements out of a client who is tired, upset and not great with PDFs.

What a family law intake form is for

A family law intake form is the questionnaire a prospective client fills in before, or just after, the first meeting. It collects the facts you need to run a conflict check, judge urgency and spend the consultation on advice, not note-taking.

It is not a retainer and it is not advice. It is a structured first conversation in writing.

If you want the general version that works across practice areas, our law firm client intake form template covers the basics. This post is about the family-specific questions, and about what comes after.

What should be on a family law intake form

Most family intake forms we have seen in firm PDFs and templates cover the same ground. The order matters less than keeping each section short, so the client reaches the end.

• The parties: full names, other names used, addresses and contact details for both spouses or partners, so you can run a conflict check before anyone shares anything sensitive.
• Children: names, ages, who they live with now, and any existing arrangements or orders.
• The relationship: date of marriage or civil partnership, date of separation, and any previous proceedings or agreements, including prenuptial ones.
• Property and money, in outline: the home and how it is owned, rough income for each side, pensions, businesses, significant debts.
• Urgency and safety: whether the client feels safe, whether there are deadlines, and whether it is safe to contact them at the details given.
• How they heard about you, and the best time to call.

Keep the money section light. At intake you need to know that there is a pension and a business, not the value of either. The detail comes later, with documents.

The safety question deserves its own line, with a clear note on what you will do with the answer. Which questions you must ask, and how, depends on your jurisdiction and your professional rules, so check them rather than copying a template.

Divorce intake form or family law intake form: one form or two?

Firms split this both ways. A single form with branching sections suits a small practice where most matters are divorce and children.

Separate forms make sense if you also handle adoption, cohabitation disputes or domestic abuse injunctions, where the questions barely overlap.

Our view is that fewer, shorter forms get finished. If a client has to scroll past twenty adoption questions to tell you about their pension, some of them will stop.

When should the client fill it in?

There are two common points. Before the consultation, the form doubles as a conflict check and lets you prepare. After engagement, you can ask for more, because the client has committed and you can explain why you need it.

Many firms do both: a short pre-consultation form of perhaps fifteen questions, then a fuller questionnaire once the retainer is signed.

Whatever you choose, tell the client how long it takes. "About ten minutes" gets more completions than a blank screen.

Is an intake form a legal document?

Not in the sense of a contract, but treat it as confidential from the moment it arrives. It often contains more sensitive detail than anything else on the file: addresses someone may be hiding, children's names, allegations of abuse.

Whether its contents are privileged, and from when, is a question for your jurisdiction's rules rather than a blog post. What is within your control is where the answers end up and who can see them.

After intake: the financial disclosure documents

Once you are instructed, the paperwork starts. In England and Wales that usually means Form E and its supporting documents. In US states it is a financial affidavit or statement, with the list set by local rules.

The names vary; the documents look much the same.

Clients are usually asked for twelve months of bank and savings statements, recent payslips or business accounts, tax returns, pension statements, mortgage and loan balances, and valuations of property or vehicles.

We wrote the client-side guide to divorce financial disclosure documents for exactly this moment, so it is worth sending along with your own list.

This is where most matters slow down. Not because clients refuse, but because twelve statements across four accounts arrive as fourteen separate emails over three weeks, and someone at the firm has to work out what is still missing.

How should clients send you those documents?

Email is the default, and it is the weak point.

Attachments sit in the client's sent folder, which in a divorce may be a shared laptop or an account the other spouse knows the password to. They also sit in your inbox indefinitely.

A client portal solves that, at a price and with a login your client has to set up and remember.

For a firm that already runs one, use it. For a two-partner practice, or a client who will upload once and never log in again, a portal can be more machinery than the job needs.

The middle option is a private upload link: one link, protected by a password you give the client separately, that sends files only to you. The client never needs an account, and nothing lands in their sent folder.

A simple setup with TinyX

We built TinyX for this gap, so here is how a family practice might use it. It is not a case management system and does not try to be.

For intake, Instant Forms let you write the questionnaire in plain markdown and share it as one short link. Respondents do not sign up and the form carries no Google branding. The answers come out as a CSV export for your own system.

For the disclosure documents, a Secure File Drop is an inbox that can only receive. You send the client one link, with a password you give them separately, and they upload straight to you. The link closes on its own instead of staying open.

On Pro and Max you can switch on end-to-end encryption, so files are encrypted in the client's browser with AES-256 before upload.

We should be honest about the limit here: the encryption runs in code we serve. If a matter is sensitive enough that you would rather encrypt files yourself first, do that.

Going the other way, you may need to send a draft consent order or a valuation to a client or the other side. You can set that link to one download and an expiry date. When it hits either limit, the link stops working and the file is deleted.

The free plan includes questionnaires and password protection. Upload links come with the same paid plans as encryption, and the current limits are on the pricing page. There is more for firms on our page for lawyers.

Family law intake form FAQ

What is a family law intake form?

It is a questionnaire a prospective family law client completes before or soon after the first meeting. It collects the parties, children, key dates, an outline of finances and any urgency, so the lawyer can check conflicts and prepare.

What is the difference between a divorce intake form and a family law intake form?

A divorce intake form focuses on the marriage, separation, children and finances. A family law intake form may also cover other matters, such as cohabitation or adoption, often with sections the client can skip.

Should financial documents be collected at intake?

Usually not. Intake needs an outline of finances; the supporting documents are normally requested once you are instructed and know what disclosure your jurisdiction requires.

Is it safe for clients to email financial documents?

Email works, but copies stay in both mailboxes, and in a separation the client's account may not be private. A password-protected upload link or your firm's portal keeps fewer copies in fewer places.

Is the information on an intake form confidential?

Treat it as confidential from the start. Whether and when it is privileged depends on your jurisdiction's rules, so check them rather than relying on a template.

Can I use a free template?

Yes, as a starting point. Our general law firm intake form is free; adapt it with the family-specific sections above and check it against your local rules.

The next step

Pick your ten most important intake questions and put them in one form this week. Then decide how the disclosure documents will reach you before the first client asks.

If you want to try that with a form link and a private upload link, see the features or compare the plans.

This post describes common practice in general terms and is not legal advice.