DIY Divorce Pitfalls: What To Avoid (Part 2)

In the introductory article in this series, we talked about why Do-It-Yourself divorces can be more trouble than you expect. After all, there is so much information available on the internet, but very little of it is actually relevant to Michigan’s divorce laws, and some of it is blatantly incorrect. For this reason, we give our readers some important pointers about DIY Divorces, and how to avoid a few of the common pitfalls that many do-it-yourselfers encounter along the way.

Having already looked at the importance of knowing and understanding Michigan law and being familiar with your rights and entitlements under the law, we are moving along to the next item on the list…

3. Leveling The Legal Playing Field

Representing yourself in your divorce probably sounds like it makes the most sense, right? After all, you know yourself better than anyone. You know what you have, what you want and what you’re not willing to settle for. In that context, a divorce attorney just sounds like a giant waste of money. But if your spouse has hired a divorce attorney, then representing yourself can be a dangerous and costly endeavor. Because when two skilled divorce attorneys sit across from each other at the negotiations table, they both have the benefit of years of training and experience and a full comprehension of the complexities of family law. You, on the other hand, probably don’t. It would be the equivalent of sending an amateur to play a tennis match against Serena Williams. Only the stakes are much higher.

Your spouse’s attorney is not going to take the time to explain to you the things that you may have filled out incorrectly on your paperwork or the filing dates that you missed. Michigan law is clear that your spouse’s lawyer has no obligation to you. They aren’t going to provide you with a run down on the procedures for the specific county court you are appearing in, and they’re not going to do you the courtesy of pointing out any errors or ambiguities in the proposed settlement that was written. After all, it’s better for their client if you don’t know what you’re doing. Your mistakes are entirely in their favor. So if your spouse has already hired an attorney, then a DIY divorce is already not a wise option for you and your best move would be to hire your own attorney as well. Preferably, a better one than your spouse’s.

4. Handling The Paperwork (This Is The Critical Part!)

The paperwork associated with a divorce is one of the most important parts of a divorce. This is not to say that all the other parts aren’t important, because they are, but when you’re doing your divorce yourself, how you fill out and file your paperwork is going to have a huge impact on the outcome of your divorce.

If your divorce is not complex in any way, for example: you have no children, you have no shared assets or debts that need to be divided, no retirement plans, no real estate, you’ve only been married for a short time, and neither of you is expecting spousal support, then a DIY divorce is likely to be a straightforward process for you. But that isn’t the case for most people. That’s where things can get complicated, and messy.

For starters, you cannot go down to your local courthouse and expect the court clerk to answer questions about how to fill out your divorce paperwork. Court clerks are not customer service representatives and they aren’t even lawyers. They are not allowed to give legal advice. They are not allowed to assist you in preparing your paperwork. And because they are busy, many of them will, and properly do, flatly refuse to provide any information beyond which papers you need, and when to file them. 

Another thing to remember is that every county is different. The Michigan county where you live probably does things very differently in their family courts than the way divorces are handled in neighboring counties. Each court operates differently, each judge has different expectations, and every divorce process will be handled differently. So chances are whatever you have read on the internet about what to expect won’t be a complete picture unless it happened to be written recently by someone who practices divorce in the county where you live right now. 

All in all, there is a lot to learn and a lot to take into account when representing yourself in a divorce. Join us next time, when we will be looking at important tax issues during a divorce.