Understanding Family Law Representation
Are you in the middle of a family law situation and you’re thinking about representing yourself? I’m family law attorney Carl Birkhead with Wirth Law Office in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I’ve been practicing family and criminal law for about seven years now.
I want to help you make law easy by talking just a little bit about when and how to represent yourself in a family court situation. I’m focusing mainly on situations that deal with child custody, but it does go beyond that.
I’ve seen people try to represent themselves in divorces without kids. I’ve seen people try to represent themselves in protective orders. I’ve seen people try to represent themselves in custody battles. It doesn’t always go well.
Challenges of Self-Representation
I realize that I might seem biased by saying this because obviously, I’m a lawyer. I think everyone should have a lawyer. I’m not just saying this for me. I’m saying this because this is what I’ve seen nine times out of 10.
You can represent yourself. It’s kind of like trying to perform surgery on yourself though. You can do it and you might even survive, but if you try to do it yourself, it’s going to be longer, messier, and much more painful than if you have a trained professional doing it for you.
That’s not to say it’s impossible. Let’s say you’re trying to do a divorce and there’s no kids involved or maybe there’s kids involved, but everyone’s in agreement on everything. Yeah. Theoretically, you can go ahead and do that divorce yourself. I’ve seen it happen before and it works. You just have to be very, very careful.
Beware of DIY Legal Services
Some people try to go to LegalZoom or some sort of just buy the forms and fill them out yourself and submit them to the court. Half the time they work, half the time they don’t. You have to be very, very careful about which services that you use.
Make sure that you are going over the pleadings with a fine toothcomb before you just fill in the blanks and submit them. Sometimes I’ve seen people trying to do a default divorce where they can’t even get the other side to show up, but because their paperwork isn’t in order, they’ve had to go back five, six, seven times just because unfortunately they didn’t know what they were doing and the service that they used just wasn’t up to snuff.
There are recordable services and I’ve never used LegalZoom before. I don’t know what kind of quality work that they put out there. Just clearing the record there. We even do that sometimes.
Professional Drafting Services
Our firm does offer just straight drafting services where you do not want a lawyer to go represent you, you don’t want anyone shown to the court for you, but you just want the paperwork done and done correctly. We do that and other firms do that as well.
All I can say, and I say this, I cannot stress this enough. Be very, very careful and if the other side is getting a lawyer, the best thing you can do for yourself is to make sure you are represented also.
Otherwise, I mean, if you’re a novice going up against Muhammad Ali, you’re more likely going to get knocked out than get anything productive done.
Consultation for Your Family Law Needs
If you have any questions about this, if you want to figure out do you need a lawyer, do you not, absolutely give us a call. The worst thing you can do is try to go in without at least getting a little bit of information and educating yourself. My name is Carl Birkhead. I’m with Wirth Law Office and want to help you make law easy. Thank you.
Start with a Low-Cost Initial Strategy Session
If you’re considering representing yourself in a family law case, don’t hesitate to reach out for a low-cost initial strategy session. Call us at 918-879-1681 to discuss your options and ensure you’re making informed decisions about your legal journey.
