The purpose of a preliminary divorce consultation is to get to know the attorney who you are thinking about hiring. See if you and he or she have good chemistry together, see what his or her office looks like, look at his or her desk, is it messy, is it neat, does that bother you? Meet the staff in the office. How long does it take for them to call you back to schedule a meeting? How is the atmosphere there? Does it seem like there is someone who would be pleasant to work with? Listen to his or her thoughts about your situation, once you've given them a brief overview and see if this is someone who you want to be able to be the captain of your ship, if you will, that takes you through his process. To prepare for a preliminary consultation with a family law attorney, I would say that you should have a brief synopsis of your situation: when you got married, when you separated, if you have already separated, how many children do you have, what are their ages and genders, a little bit about your lifestyle and the expenses that you have, the income of you and or your spouse and what assets the community has and what debts the community has. That could be kind of a brief overview that you talk to this person and see what their ideas, their strategy and their style is and if it's something that you like, then that might be a good candidate for someone to lead you through the process.