How to consult a divorce lawyer effectively in China
 For a divorce case, if you want to consult a Chinese lawyer, there are generally two ways: telephone counseling, face to face counseling.
For telephone counseling, there generally no cost for merely a short time consulting in China, but during the consultation, a lawyer may only give you a rough idea and some general advice. A lawyer may not be able to give you practical advice because the lawyer does not have a chance to review the evidence and the lawyer may not be able to fully understand the facts of the case, but only a general picture of the case.

For face to face counseling, lawyers usually get paid according to his or her hourly rate. Therefore, how to "squeeze" valuable information out of the lawyer within a limited period of time and to ask every question for ideas have become a necessary homework before seeing a lawyer.

For a lawyer, the daily work has already been too much and the time is always tight, the lawyer wouldn’t want the consultation time to be dragged too long. The client should ask the right questions without causing the lawyer too much time on guessing the client’s point.
Generally, in order to “ask the right question” the client needs to do the following:
1. Prepare a concise summarization of the story, including when marriage was established, how were the mutual affections of marriage being changed, when the child was given birth, when the real estate was purchased, why divorce is sought, the opinions of both parties for property dispossession? 
2. Prepare all evidence at hand. If you have written materials such as a real estate license, house purchasing contract, photographic evidence of photographs, audio recordings, and videos, or witnesses who can testify in court, it’s better to bring all of them to a lawyer's office. During the consultation, the lawyer may review the evidence or ask the witness necessary questions, which will help the lawyer to make an accurate judgment on the divorce case.
3. If you are divorcing because of the other party has an affair, but you do not have the appropriate evidence, then tell the attorney why you believe the other party has an affair and provide some clue that might be helpful.
4. If you are seeking a divorce because of domestic violence, then show the scar photos, hospital medical records, police records.
5. If you have questions about the division of common property, please inform the lawyer when the property (e.g. real estate) was purchased, the source of the purchase money, the name of the real estate owner registered, and whether there is any mortgage or not.
6. if you have questions about child support, then tell the lawyer when the child was born, child's gender, the immediate supporters (grandparents, grandparents, grandma, grandmother, mom, and dad) of the child. Economic situation, education level and health status of the two parties
In addition, when consulting lawyers, try to stay calm, do not let emotion control the consultation. This is especially important for females as the consultation could become a  complaint if the tears take control the consulting time.