Free working document
The separation binder setup checklist
A working checklist for the four stages of a separation engagement, written for the coach or mediator who has to keep the documents, the dates and the decisions in one place.
This is the checklist behind the binder. It assumes you are the coach or the mediator rather than the attorney of record, that your client arrives with documents in a shoebox or a photo roll, and that the case will run longer than either of you expects. Work through it once per client and the file stays legible for the whole engagement.
Nothing here asks you to interpret law or advise on strategy. Every item is organization, timing or record keeping, which is the half of the case you own. Print it, work down it, and treat the four stage headings as the four sections of the binder itself.
Stage one, the intake week
Stage two, disclosure and the document pile
Stage three, the deadline watch
Stage four, the attorney handoff and the close
How to use it
Use the checklist as a spine rather than a script. A case that is already filed skips half of stage one, a mediation with two parties runs stage two twice, and a client with no retirement accounts drops one line from stage three. What matters is that all four sections exist before the first working session, because retrofitting a structure onto a live case in month four is what makes the file unreadable.
The one habit worth keeping strictly is dating things. Documents get a received date and a coverage period, deadlines get a check date, decisions get the date they were made. Almost every difficult moment in a separation engagement is a question about when something happened or what was known at the time, and a dated record answers it in seconds without you having to defend your memory.
Send me the editable copy
Send yourself the editable copy and work down it with your next client, or hand the document stages to her directly.
Questions about this document
Can I give this checklist to my client?
Stages one and two, yes, and most coaches do. The document collection stage in particular works well as a client facing list. Stages three and four are practitioner work and are usually better kept as your own record.
Does using this checklist put me at risk of practicing law?
Every item is organization, timing or record keeping rather than advice on the law or its application to her situation. The scope page in stage one exists specifically to keep that line visible. Unauthorized practice is defined state by state, so read your own state rule and phrase your work inside it.
How does this relate to TransitionBinder itself?
The checklist is the process and the software is the container. You can run the whole thing on paper, and plenty of coaches start there. The binder saves you the setup on every new client and produces the attorney summary from what is already recorded.
From the paper checklist to the binder
Running the four stages on paper is how plenty of good coaches carry a separation, and it holds up fine. What it costs you is the setup on every new client and the evening spent writing the attorney summary out of your notes. A demo shows the same four stages already open and dated, ready for a decree that is nine months away and a retirement transfer that outlives it.