What does it mean to DIY legal issues? How do you DIY a family law case?

In the first 2 posts of this 4-part series, we discussed why what you do today can be felt by you and your loved ones years from now. We also discussed how to locate a lawyer that not only knows this but has a plan to minimize long-term negative effects from your family law case.

Read those posts now to catch up:

• How Not to Do Graduation
• How to Find and Hire the Right Lawyer for Your Divorce Case

In this post, we’ll explore what you can do if you are in the majority of Oregonians that don’t have money to spare for lawyers (or simply don’t want to hand over control of your case), where do you go?

There’s good news and not so good news.

The Good News for Self-Represented Clients

First, the good news. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel to file paperwork the court will accept. You have options, several of which are free and others which are less expensive than hiring a lawyer at hundreds of dollars an hour alongside a several thousand-dollar retainer.

1. The courthouse has form packets with instructions. These are free. Depending on where you live, you can either get these from the clerk’s window or from the Court Facilitator’s office or the law library.

2. The Oregon Judicial Department has an online file and serve option where you can create your paperwork online. This is also free.

3. You can use buy forms from legal document suppliers for much less than a lawyer will charge you to take down your information and create your documents. 

4. You can use paid Document Preparation websites like ours that give you instructions, video information and guide you through an interview to create a set of court-ready documents. We created ours to address what we saw as problems with the Oregon Judicial Department forms and to make sure your paperwork was of the same quality tailored for Oregon law and practice as what we created in the decade+ that we provided direct representation.

Any of these options can help you create the paperwork that the court requires in the format the court expects. These are a great option when you know your legal rights, are clear on your obligation and duties and know what you want to do. Whether you have reached an agreement with your spouse, domestic partner or co-parent or can’t but you know what to request but just need help with the paperwork, these options can work well for you.

The Not-So-Good News for Self-Represented Clients

The Not-So-Good-News is that you can’t get legal advice from any of these sources. By law, non-lawyers can give you information but not legal advice. You will be asked what you want to request but you may not know your options. You also can’t get any sense of whether what is possible is also probable. 

You may not understand the ways that different request impact each other or how to use one type of relief over another. For example, if what you want to do is protect yourself financially, you may want to lean into the property/debt division rather than support.

Depending on your family, you may need to solve parenting conflicts with custody or you might be able to resolve them through the parenting schedule.

Another drawback is that the state forms are limited to certain types of cases. For example, if you are a non-parent who has stepped into that role and trying to get legal documents to back that up, you can’t get forms for this from the courthouse or the OJD website. The forms are designed to be the most useful for the greatest number of people. For that reason, they may not cover more specific facts and circumstances.

But don’t get discouraged. These tools can work for you especially if you go the extra step to:

• Consult with a lawyer before you prepare your paperwork
• Consult with a lawyer after you create your documents but before you file them
• Consult with a lawyer even after you file them to make sure your papers are the best way to get what you need, and if not, explain how you can change them

The point is that even if you must or simply chose to DIY your family law case, there are tools and services to support you in this choice. Some are free and others are paid services but paid at a fraction of the cost of traditional representation.

In the next post, we’ll explore ways in which you can work with a lawyer WITHOUT “retaining” them to take over your case