Doing My Divorce Pro-Se--HELP!

[Brigit]

I want to do my divorce without a lawyer (pro-se). It will be a friendly and uncontested divorce--WHERE DO I BEGIN?
Oh, yeah, I am in New Jersey....

 

[LegalBeagle]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Brigit:
I want to do my divorce without a lawyer (pro-se). It will be a friendly and uncontested divorce--WHERE DO I BEGIN?
Oh, yeah, I am in New Jersey....<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Are there children or property involved ?

 

[Brigit]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by LegalBeagle:
Are there children or property involved ?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Yes, there are children involved. A day or two after I kicked him out, I went and filed for custody and child support. Our court date for that is in December...the custody is uncontested; he does not have the means to take and support the kids. We are on very amicable terms and neither of us can afford a lawyer either.

 

[ExInControl]

One thing I learned before my own divorce: if you are going pro se, the judge expects you to KNOW THE LAW AS AN ATTORNEY WOULD. If you have any children or property at stake, this could be a potentially bad move for you! You might consider a free consultation with an attorney, to determine if you are able to fully protect your rights and interests by going pro se, or if you should really consider legal representation. A judge's decision is pretty final, and hard (and costly) to try to reverse.

 

[navywife_tx]

Just a lil info here...but when my ex and i divorced, it was a mutual uncontested divorce. We had one daughter to decide custody on and we did on our own. He paid for the lawyer, the lawyer drew up the paper b/c we had no property to divide, and sent it to the judge. We never made one visit in court b/c we had decided on the custody of our daughter on our own. We decided on support and visitation. However since we couldn't agree on specific visitation, it just says reasonable. Now, if neither of you can afford an attorney apiece, maybe you can decide on all the important things together and split the cost of one attorney to file the paperwork. Maybe that is a bad idea but if you two get along i don't see how it could be so bad. Just my own experience on something similar but don't take just my advice, seek more.