Figure 2, General Form
On the General form, enter the spouses’ names, which spouse is the petitioner, whether the client is the petitioner or respondent, and the requested court information. You can also load, save, create and delete scenarios on this form.
Note: The Divorce Inventory and/or particular forms in the Family Law library that are created with ProDoc use the information that you enter on this form.
To complete the fields on the General form:
1. Make sure that the proper client and case appear beside Client Name and Case at the top of the form.
2. If the wrong client and/or case appear, click the Select new case button.
a. The Save Changes? window appears.
i. Click Yes if you want to save any changes to the current scenario before selecting a new client and case.
ii. Click No if you do not want to save changes to the current scenario before selecting a new client and case.
iii. Click Cancel if you want to return to the scenario that is currently loaded in the Divorce Inventory.
b. If you chose Yes or No, the Select a Case window opens.
c. Highlight a client and case.
d. Click Select.
3. Enter the name of the Husband and Wife in the fields provided.
4. In the Who is the petitioner section, click the Husband or Wife button to show which spouse is the petitioner.
5. In the What is the Client section, click the Petitioner or Respondent button depending on your client’s status.
6. Provide the requested information in the Court information section.
a. Enter the Cause number.
b. Enter the County.
c. Click the drop-down arrow to the right of the Court type, and choose the court in which this matter is being heard. The available choices are District Court, County Court and County Court at Law.
d. Enter the Court number.
Scenarios
Figure 3, Scenario Section of General Form
The Divorce Inventory allows you to create Scenarios. Scenarios contain a list of the parties’
property and how the property is to be divided. You can divide the property as you want and save each division as a scenario. In fact, creating multiple scenarios for your divorce cases can be a useful
negotiating tool. Scenarios can help you compare what the parties want and what the judge is likely to order. Scenarios help you get a better look at the big picture.
When creating multiple scenarios it is important to remember that the scenario on which you are working in the Divorce Inventory is not necessarily the scenario that will be selected for assembling documents in ProDoc. This is because out of all of the scenarios you create to determine the best division of property, only one scenario is actually used to assemble documents for your client’s case.
There are fields on this form that allow you to see which scenario is being used by the Divorce Inventory and which scenario will be used to assemble in ProDoc. Before assembling documents in ProDoc that use information from the Divorce Inventory, you should make sure that the correct
scenario is displayed in the Scenario Used in ProDoc’s Forms field so the correct information appears in your documents.
You may load, copy, create and delete scenarios using the buttons to the right of the Scenarios for Current Case section. Previously created and saved scenarios are listed in the Scenarios for Current Case window shown below. If there is an icon to the left of a scenario’s name, it means that it is
currently loaded for use in the Divorce Inventory.
To load a scenario for use in the Divorce Inventory:
1. Highlight the scenario you want to use from the list of scenarios in the Scenarios for Current Case section.
2. Click the Load Selected Scenario into this Inventory Program button.
3. The Confirm window appears and asks if you want to save the currently loaded scenario before loading the scenario you chose in Step 1.
a. Click Yes if you want to save any changes you made to the currently loaded scenario.
b. Click No if you do not want to save any changes you made to the currently loaded scenario.
4. The name of the scenario you have just loaded now appears in the Current Scenario Used In This Inventory Program field. At this point your scenario is loaded in the inventory program and is ready to be updated.
To save changes made to a scenario as a new scenario:
1. Click the Copy Current Scenario as New Scenario button.
2. The Confirm window appears.
a. Click Yes to save the changes that have been made to the current scenario.
b. Click No to close the current scenario and copy the current scenario and the changes that have been made to a new scenario.
c. Click Cancel to return to the Divorce Inventory without copying the current scenario.
3. The Create New Scenario window appears.
a. Enter a name for the scenario in the Scenario Name field.
b. Enter a description of the scenario in the Scenario Description field.
4. Click OK.
To create a new blank scenario:
1. Click the Create a New Blank Scenario button.
2. The Confirm window appears and asks if you want to save the scenario that is currently loaded in the Divorce Inventory.
a. Click Yes to save any changes you made to the currently loaded scenario.
i. The Create New Scenario window appears.
ii. Enter a scenario name and description.
iii. Click OK.
iv. You may now enter information for the scenario.
b. Click No to discard changes you made to the currently loaded scenario.
i. The Create New Scenario window appears.
ii. Enter a scenario name and description.
iii. Click OK.
iv. You may now enter information for the scenario.
c. Click Cancel to return to the Divorce Inventory without creating a new scenario.
To delete a scenario:
1. Select a scenario from the list.
2. Click the Delete Selected Scenario button.
3. The Confirm window appears and asks if you want to delete the selected scenario.
4. Click Yes to delete the scenario.
Note: If the scenario you are deleting is the current scenario that is loaded in ProDoc, the Select a ProDoc Scenario window appears. Click the drop down arrow, select another scenario to load in ProDoc and click OK.
If the scenario you are deleting is the only scenario for the selected client and case, the Confirm window appears. Click Yes to delete all of the inventory answers except for the general information which includes, the names of the husband and wife, court information and which party is the petitioner and client.
To change a scenario’s name or description:
1. Select a scenario from the list.
2. Click the Change button.
3. The Change Scenario Description window appears.
4. Enter a new name and/or description for the scenario and click OK.
Note: You may also change a scenario’s name or description by clicking on the current name or description in the Scenarios for Current Case section and making the change directly in the field.
The information that you enter for a scenario may be used for document assembly in ProDoc, but the scenario must be loaded in ProDoc before it may be used. The three fields along the bottom of the General form show which scenarios are loaded in the Divorce Inventory and ProDoc, and allow you to load a scenario for document assembly in ProDoc.
Figure 4, Scenarios Used Fields
The scenarios in the Current Scenario Used In This Inventory Program and the Scenario Used In ProDoc’s Forms fields may be different because the scenario on which you are working in the Divorce Inventory is not necessarily the scenario that you will use when creating documents in ProDoc.
The scenario that is shown in the Current Scenario Used In This Inventory Program field is the scenario that is currently loaded in the Divorce Inventory. This is the scenario to which you can
make changes in the Divorce Inventory. You may change this scenario by highlighting a scenario in the Scenarios for Current Case list and clicking the Load Selected Scenario into This
Inventory Program button.
The scenario that is shown in the Scenario Used In ProDoc's Forms field is the scenario that ProDoc will use to create documents. This scenario is used for the actual document assembly in ProDoc. You may change this scenario by clicking the drop-down arrow to the right of the Replace Scenario To Be Used In ProDoc's Forms field and choosing the scenario that you want to use to assemble documents in ProDoc. If you change the scenario, you must click the Save and Continue button before the new scenario is activated in ProDoc.
The forms that can be assembled using information from the Divorce Inventory are:
7-1 Inventory & Appraisement of (Name of Party) 16-6 Suggested Division of Community Property 17-1 Final Decree of Divorce
17-6 Agreement Incident to Divorce
138-2 Proposed Property Division (NOT SBOT)