Anyone have any advice on adopting a dog from another family?

What kind of things would you ask or look for if adopting a dog from a family you don't know? I just know they have a dog they cannot keep and the basics - it's age, size, house trained, good with kids... But what else would you ask? Vet papers? accination papers? I would hate to adopt a dog and find out in a month that it needs an expensive operation or something else like that. Obviously you cannot foresee many things as a pet owner so something like that could happen regardless but I don't want to overlook anything beforehand and want to ask the owners prior to agreeing to take the dog. Any suggestions are welcome. It's a beagle if that means anything with the suggested info I should find out.

Thanks

Re: Anyone have any advice on adopting a dog from another family?

It would be nice to have a copy of the vet records, know if there's a bite history, being it's a beagle.... how is the howling, any separation issues, food issues (allergies, aggression, wet/dry), how is he house trained, what are his furniture rules, how is he on the leash or off it in a yard (digging, trying to escape etc.).
Obviously I'd like to know many things but most important for me would be the records.