Comparing the documents in a packet against each other is easy to skip, mostly because nobody has an order for doing it. Each document gets read on its own, each one looks fine and the packet goes out. The comparison, the part where a detail on one page is held up against the same detail on another, never happens.
This post gives you an order. It covers five details, one reference document and a single pass through the packet. It is built to take about a minute per detail, so five minutes for a small packet. Bigger packets take longer, and that is the point of having a method.
This is general guidance for careful preparation, not legal advice. Anything a comparison turns up should go to the person responsible for the case.
Before You Start: Pick a Reference
For each detail, choose one document to be the reference, the one the others are read against. A passport copy is the usual choice for a name or a date of birth. Without a reference, a comparison turns into a comparison of everything with everything, which nobody finishes. With one, you read each other document against it, one at a time.
Check 1: Names
Read every other document's name against the reference, letter by letter. Look at the order, middle names, spelling, hyphens, accents and any short forms. Name changes matter too, since an older document may carry an earlier name. (Field Guide #1 covers the six ways a name drifts.)
Check 2: Dates
Compare birth dates first, then every other date that appears on more than one document, such as start dates, issue dates and expiry dates. A single digit is enough to make two dates disagree, and two different date formats can hide a real difference or create an imaginary one. (Dates are Field Guide #2.)
Check 3: Addresses
An address changes over time, and documents are written at different points in that time. Compare the address on each document with the others, and note which one is current. A form that was started months ago and a lease from last month will often disagree for a perfectly ordinary reason, which is still a difference someone needs to look at.
Check 4: Numbers
Compare every figure that appears more than once, including income, amounts, counts and totals. This is the check most likely to be forgotten, because a number on one form rarely looks wrong by itself. It only looks wrong beside the same number somewhere else.
Check 5: Identifiers
Compare passport numbers, case or receipt numbers and any other identifier that shows up on more than one document. Transposed digits are the classic mistake, and they are easy to make in either direction.
What To Do With a Difference
Mark every difference you find, including the small ones. Then hand each one to the person responsible for the case. Some differences are errors, some are acceptable variations, and some need a short explanation sent with the filing. Deciding which is a judgment call, and it belongs to a person who knows the case.
Where a Tool Can Help
A pass like this is repetitive and repetitive work is where attention slips, especially late in the day and with a long packet. A pre-submission check is built for exactly that part. CIRIS compares information across the documents in a case before submission and flags the specific field and the reason. The decision stays with your team.
If you would like to see how that fits next to a manual pass like this one, we would be glad to show you.
Curious what that looks like for your workflow? Schedule a demo →
CIRIS by Kiungor, document validation infrastructure, currently focused on legal services.