Your lawyer is your advisor. He or she can prepare paperwork you must have and can conduct the trial of your case. He or she can probably tell you, based upon many other cases, what the court would be likely to do to resolve many of the issues in your case if you do not reach a settlement; this is of value to you, because most settlements are reached after an analysis as to what the court would be likely to do if the particular cases would actually be contested all the way through. Your lawyer can also perform settlement negotiations, question witnesses and make legal arguments for you.
You must make certain that you answer each of the lawyer's questions fully and completely. If any of the answers to these questions might make you uncomfortable, by all means do your absolute best to answer them properly anyway. If you should withhold any fact from your lawyer which could be important (and it is the lawyer who is the proper person to determine what is important), this could result in the other side springing a surprise on your lawyer when you get to trial. Surprises for which your lawyer may not be prepared can be very damaging to your case.
It is very important to know that your lawyer is not a psychological counselor, a minister or a doctor. If you feel you need expert medical, psychological, religious, social work, or other non-legal counseling to cope with some aspects of the total divorce situation, you should seek the help of a person or persons connected specifically with these fields.
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