by Lois Lawrence

Created on: May 02, 2008   Last Updated: May 24, 2010

There is a lot of advice out there about how to save money by acting as your own divorce lawyer. Much of it comes from so-called document preparation services whose business it is to gather information, which it then inserts, into official-looking documents such as divorce complaints or separation agreements. The cost of using such services is almost always far lower than the cost of retaining a lawyer to advise and represent you in a divorce. Lower, that is, unless you consider the cost of the errors and omissions that regularly affect the lives individuals who take on the risky task of do-it-yourself lawyering.

I see the effects of this repeatedly in my family law practice. In Connecticut, where I practice, the judicial system has made a concerted effort to become increasingly friendly to pro se litigants. This means that on any given Monday, a court calendar containing one hundred cases is likely to be comprised of at least fifty in which no lawyers are involved and even more where only one party is represented by counsel. On the day of the final hearing, the courts even provide a lawyer working as a pro-se assistant, free of charge, to meet with unrepresented individuals or couples to review the documents they have prepared in an attempt to comply with the rules of practice for processing a divorce. Importantly, he or she does not provide legal advice.

In Connecticut, the documents usually required at the final hearing include sworn financial affidavits by both parties, a divorce data report, an affidavit regarding child custody and, in the event one party is not present, an affidavit proving that the absent party is not in the military service. Usually, there is also some sort of a written agreement setting forth the deal that the divorcing spouses have worked out with one another.

Assuming all the documents have been prepared correctly, and that no required document is missing, the parties are then instructed to appear before a judge for a brief hearing during which they submit their agreement for approval. Usually, the agreement sets out, in varying degrees of specificity, how the parties will divide their assets, share custody and visitation with their children, provide spousal or child support and, perhaps, to provide for eventualities like the death or remarriage of a party or cohabitation by one of them with another adult. In all but the tiniest handful of cases, the judge hearing the case will approve the agreement of the parties after a cursory

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