Divorce comes at a price. Lawyers have fees. Courts have processes. Would you like to do your divorce yourself? Let’s review your paperwork first at no cost before you do.
Click here to watch the video on Do It Yourself Divorce In Michigan? We’ll review your paperwork at no cost
Can you really do a divorce yourself?
In some cases you probably can. There are certain areas of the law for which the court does not permit self-representation. Divorce is not one of them.
So technically, you could represent yourself
You could get the papers. You could fill them out. You have to understand certain things though. If you do your own divorce, there are certain designations the court requires. There are requirements in the filing of divorce paperwork in order for the court to channel documents in the right way.
If you have no children the court gives the case a shorter life cycle than if you have children. The court gives more time in cases with children because there are more things going on in a divorce with children. In these cases, you will find the court is involved. There is the matter of determination for custody, parenting time, and child support. All of these things you don’t have when there’s no children involved.
When you file your case, you have to properly designate it as a case with or without children.
How do you do that?
There’s a sort of a suffix that’s put on all papers during filing. There’s a case number you need to get. The clerk of court designates a case number and stamps it with an appropriate suffix .
The suffix is DM which is divorce for children or DO a divorce with no children.
Let’s break it down more clearly.
DM is designated Divorce, Minor Children. Any and all requests for divorce, separate maintenance, or annulment that involve young children. Additionally used for intrastate custody, maintenance, and divorce, custody, and post-judgment transfers when young children are involved.
DO is Divorce, No Children. Any and all requests for divorce, separate maintenance, or annulment in the absence of young children. When there are no young children involved, it is also used for intrastate transfers of post-judgment divorce complaints.
If you write and designate DO and you have children in your case, you will be in the Bermuda Triangle in the clerk of court’s office. The clerk of court will spit your papers back. They’ll say it’s no good. They’ll catch up on you three months down the road and make you sign the papers all over again.
All these crazy things can happen. All because you got the wrong suffix.
Here’s a piece of advice:
Number one. You have to appropriately designate your case.
Number two. You have to realize you may or may not need a divorce depending on your situation. When we say divorce, It means there’s a legal marriage that precedes it
You’re living with someone and you never had the benefit of marriage. In other words, you never actually had a ceremony. You may be living with your family in your property with your children. Such a situation does not qualify for a divorce.
In Michigan living with someone doesn’t count. It doesn’t count for the purposes of marriage and for the purposes of divorce. So you always have to ask yourself, do I need a divorce in the first place?
You have to look at your life situation and make that determination
Here’s another issue.
You have children. The children are now grown and they are above the age of majority. You’re thinking this could be DM. Even though you had children, the case is not a DM. The court won’t need to decide anything about the kids. They’re adults. Your situation will be designated as a DO case.
The point is you have to be careful about all of these things
There’s another issue with people when they do divorces. There are certain things that have to be in there, if you’re going to allege opportunity to get those things
For example, you’re somebody who wants to get alimony or what we call spousal support. You are obligated to put appropriate provisions in your complaint for divorce seeking with the alimony. If you fail to do so, you may be barred from ever getting it, even if otherwise you deserve the alimony.
You can do these things yourself but there are pitfalls associated with doing it yourself.
You have to be very very careful.
If you want to do it yourself, here’s some suggestions.
Put the paperwork together based on your forms or whatever documents you have. Send it to your lawyer. Law firms can give you an opinion about this. Goldman and Associates offers a review of these divorce documents at no cost. Try it out.
The law firm can take a look at your documents. By availing of this service, you will have another set of eyes. These fresh sets of eyes will at least help you get it right. It will ensure the right things are alleged. You get the right suffix, DM or DO. You get the right court you’re supposed to send it to. There are rules about that too.
If you’re going to do this on your own, better not mess it up so badly. You shouldn’t put yourself in a situation where your mess results in something not retrievable and not salvageable.
Goldman and Associates can provide you assistance at no cost. The firm’s counselors can take a look at what you have put together. At least you’ll be able to get guidance.
Check if you’re going down the right direction.
If you do that, it will save yourself a lot of aggravation in the long run.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel today for more advice on Family Law!
Goldman & Associates Law Firm is here to with information about Child Custody and Divorce in the State of Michigan.