Divorce guides · Updated August 2026
The divorce document checklist.
Divorce runs on documents, and gathering them late is one of the most expensive delays a case can have. This is the working list — what your attorney is going to ask for, organized so you can actually collect it.
Identity and legal documents
- Marriage certificate, and any prenuptial or postnuptial agreement
- Any existing court orders — protective orders, prior custody or support orders
- Driver's licenses / IDs, Social Security numbers for both spouses and children
- Immigration documents, if applicable
Income
- Federal tax returns — typically the last three years, with all schedules
- Recent paystubs — usually the last three to six months, both spouses if available
- W-2s and 1099s for the same period
- Self-employment records: profit and loss statements, business tax returns, invoices
- Records of bonuses, commissions, stock compensation, side income
Accounts and debts
- Bank statements — checking and savings, usually twelve months or more
- Credit card statements for the same period
- Retirement accounts: 401(k), IRA, pension statements
- Investment and brokerage statements
- Loan documents — mortgage, auto, student, personal — with current balances
Property
- Deeds and mortgage statements for real estate — plus the purchase date and whether you were married at the time
- Vehicle titles and loan balances
- Appraisals or estimates for anything of significant value
- An inventory of valuable personal property — jewelry, tools, collections, equipment
Insurance and benefits
- Health, life, auto and homeowner's policies — who's covered, who's the beneficiary
- Employer benefits summaries for both spouses
The children's records
- School and activity schedules, childcare costs
- Medical records and providers
- Any log of the actual custody schedule as it happens — exchanges, pickups, who was there
The evidence people forget
- Text messages — complete threads, preserved properly (here's how)
- Emails that matter, with their dates intact
- Photographs of property, conditions, or events — dated
- A written, dated record of significant events as they happen
Collecting it without drowning
The trap in every list like this is volume: hundreds of pages arriving as camera-roll photos and email attachments, in no order, some of them twice. The work isn't only finding the documents — it's keeping them organized enough that your attorney can use them without billing hours to sort them.
In CaseWeave, this list arrives as a checklist in your app: your attorney requests the documents, each item becomes an upload slot, and everything you add is read, dated, fingerprinted and filed into the case automatically. You work the list one item at a time and watch it go to done — and your attorney opens an organized file, not a pile.
Exact requirements vary by state and by case — your attorney's list for your case comes first. This guide is general information, not legal advice.