You Might Find You Can’t Not Afford An Attorney
You were just served with court papers. Perhaps the documents were left at your residence. Maybe it’s for a divorce, custody of your children or child support from an attorney. Maybe it’s a restraining order. Or, maybe you need to file one of these actions yourself.
You start doing some basic internet research. You find some self-help booklets. You review the forms and think, “I can do this myself.” Perhaps someone you know has already been through a similar matter and you pick their brain.
You start going through the process and realize you have questions about the forms. You are not sure about the exact procedure and are not able to get much assistance from the court. The person who went through the process doesn’t really remember and now you are not sure how similar their matter really was to yours. You still want to handle the matter on your own but you wish you had some guidance. What do you do? Where do you go? How do you start?
If you don’t follow the correct procedure, at best you will need to start over. This will incur more time and expense. At worst you can give up important rights or claims. If you get the procedure correct but don’t fully understand the law, you again are at risk. You can pay too much or not get enough. You can waive claims or benefits you don’t even know you are entitled to. You can be prevented from introducing evidence or otherwise proving your claim or defending against a claim. You will likely not get the discovery you need. Your mistakes may be undone but with more time and cost. Some mistakes are permanent. Legal assistance is crucial when handling matters on your own. As such, partial representation should be considered.
Limited Scope Representation – What is it, how does it work, why consider?
What is Limited Scope Representation: a partial representation which is relatively new and allowed in family legal matters.
How doe Limited Scope Representation work: The client, with the assistance of the attorney, decide what parts of the matter each will handle. Each is allowed to work independently but often confer for strategic purposes.
Why select a Limited Scope Representation: Cost savings and control. Legal representation is expensive. Limited Scope Representation gives the client the option of representing themselves with the benefit of an attorney for the parts of the case they feel is most important or complicated. It also gives the client more control over how their legal matter proceeds which some people see as a benefit instead of a burden.
Up until recently, this hybrid representation was not an option; the attorney was either all in or not. This arrangement makes expert legal assistance available to more people going through family legal issues. The problem is, many people don’t know about it and many attorneys do not discuss it. Please share this information.
