Has anyone ever been their own lawyer in a divorce settlement. .

prosaver

Thinking of doing it myself, representing myself in court.
Doesnt seem all that hard.. watched the film my cousin vinny
And he seemed ok doing it.
Seriously has anyone?

TBagpuss

Well, unless you are a qualified loawyer you can't be ypur own lawyer, you can however shoce to represent yourself.

Ask yourself, though, would you want to be represented by an amateur?

I've known several lawyers who deal with divorce and family csaes professionally, and evey single one of them has chosen to use a lawyer when the divorced or had other had family issues of their own in court, because even when you know how it all works, it's much more stressful when it is personal

How complicated are your finances and and how far apart are you and your ex in terms of what you are each offering?
It would normally be sensible to, at the very least, get some proper advice from a solicitor to make sure that you know your options, what might be a reasonable outcome and so on.

How much is at stake? It can very easily be a situation where for the sake of saving a comparatively small amount of money you risk a lot more, and you only get one shot at getting it right.

prosaver

Well ive got a solicitor to work out the finance outt and her to play verbal ping pong with my exs solicitor till some agreements worked out, thats cost 360, on top of the 240 for the divorce,.
if ex dosent agree on the finance.
It may go to further and need to go to court which if i had her representing me will cost about 5k.
Moneys just about the house as i should get 60% as i was a stay at home parent.

peachyprice

If it's amicable is as easy as pie to do yourself, it's all done by post, no need to even go to court. If it's not amicable it's a different matter entirely.

Tigsteroonie

Yes, I've been litigant-in-person for the financial settlement of my divorce. Went to court. Ex brought a barrister to represent him. No kids involved, relatively easy settlement, but disagreement about equity in house and personal items.

Got any specific questions?

Caroline_a

I represented myself for both the custody hearings for my daughter and also the financial settlement. I couldn't afford to take my solicitor with me, although she did the paperwork beforehand. My ex was on full legal aid so had a solicitor with him every time. Worked out fine, I just answered the questions the judge asked me as honestly and truthfully as I could and made sure that I was on time, didn't interrupt etc etc.

prosaver

Tigsteroonie wrote: »

Yes, I've been litigant-in-person for the financial settlement of my divorce. Went to court. Ex brought a barrister to represent him. No kids involved, relatively easy settlement, but disagreement about equity in house and personal items.

Got any specific questions?

so did you get what you wanted?

prosaver

Caroline_a wrote: »

I represented myself for both the custody hearings for my daughter and also the financial settlement. I couldn't afford to take my solicitor with me, although she did the paperwork beforehand. My ex was on full legal aid so had a solicitor with him every time. Worked out fine, I just answered the questions the judge asked me as honestly and truthfully as I could and made sure that I was on time, didn't interrupt etc etc.

Thanks, sounds good:)

WillowCat

Yes, I had no choice, couldn't afford a solicitor (asset rich and cash poor). In fact I did have a 'free' consultation with a solicitor who told me I had no hope of winning (I had a separation agreement he wanted to overturn).

Represented myself, against ex with solicitor and barrister in tow. Did all the prep myself. Stressful - yes, it was a lot of hard work and research. Someone very wise told me that no-one else will care more about your case than you do.

Case went to final hearing and I won.

Be aware though OP that "Moneys just about the house as i should get 60% as i was a stay at home parent." is a far too simplistic view. Every case is different and is decided on it's own facts.

PeacefulWaters

Divorce itself is a straight forward paper exercise assuming both parties agree to it or the law allows it. £550 I think.

The financials can be straight forward if both sides are capable of negotiating with each other fairly and rationally. But one side needs to pay a solicitor to draw up a consent order and the other side needs to pay a solicitor to go through the implications and fairness of the order. It then goes to a judge (£50) who will usually rubber stamp.

In my case I tried to argue that an inheritance from my mother should be returned to me in full. The ex countered by pointing out that it had paid for a car, holiday etc as well as the house. She had a point that I would effectively be benefiting again from money already spent and we agreed an appropriate adjustment for non-house related items.

If you get into disputes then it can get expensive. Two solicitors writing letters backwards and forwards is massively expensive if it goes on and on. Arbitration will be a quarter of the hourly rate of two solicitors and, again, if both individuals are calm, rational and prepared to see both sides of it this will be a much cheaper way of agreeing the financials.

Tigsteroonie

prosaver wrote: »

so did you get what you wanted?

Yes, which was more than I expected.