My boss is going through a rather nasty court battle in order to be able to exercise his visitation with is daughter. Both he and his ex-wife are incredibly stubborn and both have done wrong in regards to this situation (in my opinion). Has anyone represented themselves in court regarding custody? What was your experience? How do you feel the judge reacted?
Thanks everyone! He had a lawyer, but that the lawyer felt that he was not able to make any progress, so he hired another attorney who lied to him about the reason a hearing date was changed, so he was just fed up. I think he is going to hire yet another attorney. Hopefully this will all be over soon!
I wouldn't recommend it, unless you're talking about an amicable split in which the exes have an agreement. I wouldn't ever go into court for anything without legal representation. I think that's a big mistake. A lawyer can help him to present himself in the best possible light and will know the legal precedents. A custody battle is not just a he said/she said. Legal counsel will make sure that you don't make a costly mistake.
He should hire an attorney.
If your boss's ex has an attorney filing all sorts of motions, then he/she needs to hire an attorney. Regardless of the in's and out's of the actual relevant information, you can lose on a technicality if you don't know what you are required to do or don't get it done in the proper time frames.
Judges aren't going to care about whether or not you are represented by counsel unless you NOT being represented results in you showing up unprepared and expecting leniency on the issues at hand because you "didn't know". If you decide to represent yourself, educate yourself. Otherwise you jeopardize your case just by ignorance of the law, which is no excuse.
Judges used to be attorneys. They like other attorneys. They look at people who represent themselves as stupid people who don't have enough sense to know they need an attorney. Use an attorney if he wants to be taken seriously.
I represented myself in my oldest son's case, but my ex was not going for full custody, he only wanted visitation. I had kept rather lengthy records of dates when my ex had bothered to see his son and what time he had brought him back, whether he was late or on time, whether he had followed instructions
( our son had allergies that were triggered by certain foods and drinks) and he was not good about making sure our son did not get the things I specifically told him not to give him so he had a lot of reactions when in his fathers care.
I felt like the judge was very fair about hearing out both sides, but bottom line is they want what is in the child's best interest and that is not necesarily what parents want to hear.
I think the best advice I can give anyone going in to a situation like this is be factual, do not be petty and do not let your emotions get the best of you. No judge wants to hear a parent talk nasty about the other parent, it will not get you anywhere.
yes, and giving you the details would probably blow up the website because it would be too long!!! My hubby represented himself in 2009 and did really well. It only cost us $100 to file the initial document to request the hearing. However, we just had another hearing in Jan, paid our attorney 10k and we got SPANKED in court! The judge for whatever reason believed the mom and her attorney (she lied and got others to lie) and the judge not only ruled 100% in her favor, but then ruled that my hubby pay her attorney fees which are 13k. So the moral of our story is to NOT hire an attorney as we did much better without one! But that was just our situation. Everyone's is different. I hate that couples just can't agree and end the drama. My ex and I don't have these issues. Good luck.
