The Pit Falls of Do-it-Yourself Divorce

If California is a No-Fault Divorce State, Do You Really Need a Lawyer?

In a word, no — you do not need to have a lawyer representing you in order to get a divorce. There’s nothing wrong with this approach either. In fact some people do represent themselves just fine without making any egregious mistakes or errors. Most don’t.

With that in mind, ask yourself what the real benefits of the “do-it-yourself” divorce are. For most people, the only answer is up-front money. If this is true for you as well, then it might be a serious error in judgment to choose the do-it-yourself divorce option. It is many times far easier to prevent bad things from happening in a divorce case than to “undo” them or repair the damage once they have occurred. Many times people representing themselves in a divorce do not realize that they are heading down a disastrous path until it is too late. The economic and emotional damage can be overwhelming.

The better question to ask is this: What if you make a mistake?

At Holstrom, Sissung, Marks & Anderson, we offer high quality and affordable divorce-related legal services to people throughout Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. To learn more about the pitfalls and common errors associated with do-it-yourself divorces — call any one of our firm’s three office locations directly or contact us online.

Common Errors in Do-It-Yourself Divorces

• Internet divorce forms: Online divorce forms are a frequent source of trouble. One reason for this is that it is easy to make a mistake without realizing it until it’s too late. Another reason is that the online forms or boilerplate documents you can purchase may not be current.
• Missed documents: Rules and statutes are not the easiest pieces of information to read and understand — even for experienced attorneys. As a result, one of the most common errors of do-it-yourself divorce is not filing all of the required documents, resulting in significant delays or worse. It is not unusual for our firm to get a call from someone who mistakenly believed their divorce was completed years ago. These kinds of mistakes are not as unusual as you might think. They not only create additional monetary costs, but potential embarrassment, stress and legal complications.
• Missing a hearing or filing deadline: Divorce is a difficult, emotional experience that can easily consume a great deal of your mental energy. This, in turn, could easily cause you to miss a hearing or deadline. In fact, many do-it-yourself-ers do just that. Part of what lawyers get paid to do is to not miss hearing dates, filing deadlines or other required steps in the process.

For a free telephone consultation — call any one of our Southern California office locations directly or contact us online.

Free Telephone Consultations/Major Credit Cards Accepted

• Corona Office: (951) 734-6371
• Orange Office: (714) 633-8258
• Riverside Office: (951) 274-9448
• San Bernardino Office: (909) 919-2041