LIBERTY, MO -
In the current rough economy everyone is trying to save money, and one of the easiest ways to save money is taking on the 'do it yourself' approach. Doing your own car and home repair, or even your taxes is one thing; but what if you decided to represent yourself in court?
Missouri courts are seeing a growing number of Pro Se litigants, which are people acting as their own attorney. Late last year the state's Supreme Court moved to make it easier for a person to represent themselves, especially in divorce cases, by approving a set of 'do it yourself' divorce forms that are available online. Some legal professionals said it's not that simple; and the old adage about Pro Se litigants having a fool for a client might still ring true.
On a recent Friday afternoon at the Clay County courthouse in Liberty, Seventh Judicial Court Judge David Chamberlain blocks off some time for a Pro Se docket, consisting of thirty divorce cases, with sixty people representing themselves in court. On this day, Judge Chamberlain lets the litigants know when their case will be heard, and he also takes a look at their paperwork.
Some of the litigants are close, and many of them are way off the mark, but none of them have it right. And if it hasn't been fixed when they next appear in his court, their case will be thrown out. It isn't just a matter of holding Pro Se litigants to the same standard as licensed attorneys; the judge said he wants to do his part to make sure they receive the same justice as those who hire lawyers.
"We let people represent themselves in a criminal case, but that's after a whole bunch of checklists have gone through to make sure their rights are not being infringed upon," he said. "The problem with the Pro Se particularly in the divorce field, is that we have no way of knowing if those checks and balances have taken place, and that's what lawyers do. They make certain that if people are waiving certain rights and interests, that at least they know it."
As they walk out of the courtroom, all most of the do-it-yourself litigants seem to know for sure is that they're in over their head.
If there was ever a divorce case that should be able to be worked out without lawyers, it would seem to be Chris Hood's. Hood and his wife separated over 28 years ago, he's lived in Georgia for more than twenty years, and they've both moved on and started new families with other people; but they never officially divorced.
"We have nothing to fight over," says Hood. "There's no money. The kids are all grown. Our kids; the youngest one is twenty-seven. We have nothing. No property, no 401-Ks, no inheritances, nothing. We just want it to be done with."
When they finally made plans to divorce, Hood and his wife decided to handle the case themselves as Pro Se litigants.
"It sounded pretty self explanatory. It sounded easy," Hood says. "Even the paperwork looked easy. Then to find out it's really a lot more complicated than it is. And (the judge) just told us it's basically not worth the paper it's written on if you don't have it done exactly right. And in order to do that, you pretty much need a lawyer anyway."
"The Pro Se cases almost never get resolved," says Judge Chamberlain. "Eventually what you see is, after they've banged their head against the wall so many times... they do hire an attorney... or sometimes, people probably just give up."
Dawn Kuhlman is a dispute resolution specialist for the Circuit Court of Clay County. On this day, she's outside Judge Chamberlain's courtroom trying to help the Pro Se litigants who've just been told their cases need more work. Kuhlman says one option that's available is limited scope rrepresentation, which can be the middle ground between spending thousands on attorney's fees and going it alone.
"Now people have the option of finding an attorney that practices this limited scope representation, and saying if I draft my judgement, you can look over it, for maybe a couple of hundred dollars, and see what's missing, or see what the judge wants," says Kuhlman. "And I think that's proven to be a valuable resource for these people."
Still, Judge Chamberlain believes the best option is for Pro Se litigants to move over and let someone else take a crack at the job.
"I think the best way to go through a legal process is to have professional advice," he says. "If I'm going to have some electrical work done on my house, I hire an electrician. I can probably look online and figure out how to do it, but I don't want to zap myself."
And that's a bench ruling at least one of the do it yourself attorneys seems to be taking to heart.
"Get a lawyer. Go to Legal Aid, whatever it takes," Chris Hood says. "Save your money, save your pennies and hire a lawyer. It's worth it in the long run."
Judge Chamberlain was quick to tell us the goal of the docket was not to convince all of the Pro Se litigants to hire attorneys, but instead to point out how difficult it would be to go it alone in court. He says he will keep track of these special dockets to see if this extra step of meeting with and briefing Pro Se litignats on their status helps Pro Se cases move through the system more quickly.
For more information, check out www.selfrepresent.mo.gov.
Missouri courts are seeing a growing number of Pro Se litigants, which are people acting as their own attorney. Late last year the state's Supreme Court moved to make it easier for a person to represent themselves, especially in divorce cases, by approving a set of 'do it yourself' divorce forms that are available online. Some legal professionals said it's not that simple; and the old adage about Pro Se litigants having a fool for a client might still ring true.
On a recent Friday afternoon at the Clay County courthouse in Liberty, Seventh Judicial Court Judge David Chamberlain blocks off some time for a Pro Se docket, consisting of thirty divorce cases, with sixty people representing themselves in court. On this day, Judge Chamberlain lets the litigants know when their case will be heard, and he also takes a look at their paperwork.
Some of the litigants are close, and many of them are way off the mark, but none of them have it right. And if it hasn't been fixed when they next appear in his court, their case will be thrown out. It isn't just a matter of holding Pro Se litigants to the same standard as licensed attorneys; the judge said he wants to do his part to make sure they receive the same justice as those who hire lawyers.
"We let people represent themselves in a criminal case, but that's after a whole bunch of checklists have gone through to make sure their rights are not being infringed upon," he said. "The problem with the Pro Se particularly in the divorce field, is that we have no way of knowing if those checks and balances have taken place, and that's what lawyers do. They make certain that if people are waiving certain rights and interests, that at least they know it."
As they walk out of the courtroom, all most of the do-it-yourself litigants seem to know for sure is that they're in over their head.
If there was ever a divorce case that should be able to be worked out without lawyers, it would seem to be Chris Hood's. Hood and his wife separated over 28 years ago, he's lived in Georgia for more than twenty years, and they've both moved on and started new families with other people; but they never officially divorced.
"We have nothing to fight over," says Hood. "There's no money. The kids are all grown. Our kids; the youngest one is twenty-seven. We have nothing. No property, no 401-Ks, no inheritances, nothing. We just want it to be done with."
When they finally made plans to divorce, Hood and his wife decided to handle the case themselves as Pro Se litigants.
"It sounded pretty self explanatory. It sounded easy," Hood says. "Even the paperwork looked easy. Then to find out it's really a lot more complicated than it is. And (the judge) just told us it's basically not worth the paper it's written on if you don't have it done exactly right. And in order to do that, you pretty much need a lawyer anyway."
"The Pro Se cases almost never get resolved," says Judge Chamberlain. "Eventually what you see is, after they've banged their head against the wall so many times... they do hire an attorney... or sometimes, people probably just give up."
Dawn Kuhlman is a dispute resolution specialist for the Circuit Court of Clay County. On this day, she's outside Judge Chamberlain's courtroom trying to help the Pro Se litigants who've just been told their cases need more work. Kuhlman says one option that's available is limited scope rrepresentation, which can be the middle ground between spending thousands on attorney's fees and going it alone.
"Now people have the option of finding an attorney that practices this limited scope representation, and saying if I draft my judgement, you can look over it, for maybe a couple of hundred dollars, and see what's missing, or see what the judge wants," says Kuhlman. "And I think that's proven to be a valuable resource for these people."
Still, Judge Chamberlain believes the best option is for Pro Se litigants to move over and let someone else take a crack at the job.
"I think the best way to go through a legal process is to have professional advice," he says. "If I'm going to have some electrical work done on my house, I hire an electrician. I can probably look online and figure out how to do it, but I don't want to zap myself."
And that's a bench ruling at least one of the do it yourself attorneys seems to be taking to heart.
"Get a lawyer. Go to Legal Aid, whatever it takes," Chris Hood says. "Save your money, save your pennies and hire a lawyer. It's worth it in the long run."
Judge Chamberlain was quick to tell us the goal of the docket was not to convince all of the Pro Se litigants to hire attorneys, but instead to point out how difficult it would be to go it alone in court. He says he will keep track of these special dockets to see if this extra step of meeting with and briefing Pro Se litignats on their status helps Pro Se cases move through the system more quickly.
For more information, check out www.selfrepresent.mo.gov.
