Mistakes Spouses Make When Getting A Divorce Without An Attorney
If the divorce judgment as well as other workers of the family law court had their decision, each filing for a marital dissolution would have the ability to finish their divorce without a lawyer.
In the opinion of a judge, a lawyer is there to complicate matters even further in an attempt to stand up more billable hours rather than fighting for the good of their client.
When enough of these types of divorce cases are on the docket, a delay in court operations isn’t a surprising consequence since the judge spends time trying to calm down the lawyers and their clients in place of whatever productive becoming accomplished throughout the hearing.
One way to decrease the challenge is to ask that those wanting to dissolve their unions put forth their very best effort for self-representation in a divorce.
Though this might appear to be the obvious solution, there are still many mistakes made among the group of petitioners who go to court on behalf of these.
What are a few of the biggest mistakes made during divorce self-representation?
Missing information on the divorce forms is possibly among the greatest pet peeves of those clerks who sit behind the filing window accepting records for opening up a court case.
A document signed with no date included with the signature, providing a P.O. Box as a residential address once the court forms clearly to educate people not to do so, and supplying the nicknames of the parties on the divorce paperwork in place of the full legal names is merely a few of the things on the list of frequent court clerk complaints.
On the opposite side of this coin is the precise opposite issue, which happens when the parties supply a lot of information in their divorce papers.
Typically, the family law court doesn’t wish to know about any additional divorce information besides what is asked for on the court forms.
By way of instance, if the spouses are getting a divorce because one person cheated with twenty unique members of the other gender, details about the situation isn’t something a divorce judge expects to find written anywhere in the newspapers.
Similarly, if the cause of the marital dissolution is due to a spouse being unable to get together with the other’s extended family, this is an element of divorce that the courts would rather not know about as it has no bearing on the last divorce outcome.
Mistake number two which is dedicated to a self-explanatory divorce is the absence of research conducted on the divorce legislation.
Why does spending time doing research hold as much weight with divorce court judges?
Courts have rigorous, high standards to adhere to when it comes to all activities happening inside the walls of justice.
It’s a fact that individuals who acquire an education in the law will also receive instruction on the subject of court etiquette as part of the program.
However, this fact doesn’t preclude others who did not take some sort of law course from being required to understand how court processes and laws work and behave accordingly.
To put it differently, the attorney or not every individual who enters the courtroom sanctuary is upheld to the same regulations as anybody else regardless of a law education that educates its pupils to become well versed in the topic matter.
Researching divorce legislation and how to conduct oneself in a court proceeding direct the way to preventing another error, which is when someone asks the employed clerks to get legal counsel on anything having to do with family law.
The main standard which makes an attorney stick out above court clerks, paralegals, or other legal staff is the licensure that the attorney receives upon passing an in-depth necessary exam. It’s due to this specific evaluation that an attorney is allowed to give legal counsel and why non-attorneys don’t have the same privilege.
Court clerks fall in the class of non-licensed legal employees – so these people are breaking the law if they even try to answer a query with legal undertones to it. Therefore, saving the legal questions for a family law facilitator is a surefire way to avoid making this mistake during divorce self-representation.
Research continues to come in handy when trying to steer clear of another error on the listing, which isn’t being aware of the laws regulating a divorce case.
A frequent situation seen all too frequently by family law judges is when unrealistic requests are made by either partner – like an exorbitant child support amount or an unfair division of marital assets and debts.
A lot of the time these issues come about since those representing themselves haven’t read up on regulations that determine the suitable amount of support to be paid (based upon a principle formula set forth by the state), or the principles demonstrating community property and debts should be distributed between the spouses.
Eventually, those going to court not having spent time on study and are representing themselves may find themselves still getting the same punishments as an attorney (such as sanctions to be paid or having the case dismissed altogether) – and the excuse of “I had no formal legal training” won’t sit well with the judge, which is an additional reason that doing research and understanding the law is the perfect road to have the way into the courthouse.
Sometimes all it takes to get through the divorce procedure is to know that there’s a person who’s on your side to assist you from start to finish – a man who will answer your questions and also direct you when it comes to submitting your marital dissolution documents together with the local family law court.