Step One: Have a look for Family Law information online
How to Represent Yourself in Family Court
Engaging lawyers can be expensive and sometimes when you are involved in Family Court proceedings, representing yourself is your only option.
If you cannot afford to have a lawyer represent you and you are not eligible for legal funding, then self-representing is nothing to be scared of, there are many people who choose not to engage lawyers for the court proceedings.
Have a read of our guide below to get some tips on how to best represent yourself.
Wondering how to represent yourself in DV court? Read more here.
There are many services that provide great resources in understanding the court process. The first place to start is with the Federal Circuit and Family Court website here. This website has multiple DIY guides and brochures which explain important aspects of Family Law that you need to understand - from disclosure to court processes.
There are also many community legal centers that provide free consultations, both via telephone and in person, so you can get some advice from a lawyer free of charge. These appointments are of most use if you can do some research yourself and figure out exactly what questions you want answered.
Step Two: Understand Your Case
The most important part of running your own case is to understand what case you are trying to run and make sure that your evidence matches that.
Are you seeking for the children to spend supervised time with the other party? If so, then you need to talk about what the risk would be if they were unsupervised and give examples.
Are you seeking that you retain the house in a property settlement? If so, then you need to show why you think you made contributions so that you should retain the house and give evidence as to whether you can re-finance any mortgage or maintain liabilities associated.
Before you draft your court material, you need to consider what you are trying to achieve in court and make sure that your evidence, and the orders that you are asking the court to make, match your desired outcome.
Step Three: Prepare Your Evidence
When you are appearing in court, you are trying to convince the registrar or judge to make a certain decision and the only way you can do this is with your evidence. In Family Law, all evidence considered by the court MUST be through an affidavit or subpoena. If there is information that you think is important, like a text message or an event that happened, then you need to write about the event in your affidavit and attach the message to the affidavit.
If there is information that you want to get from another party, such as a CCTV footage or a bank statement, then you can subpoena that information from that person or company. A subpoena is when you issue a court order to someone or some place asking them to produce something to the court. You can also subpoena people to attend court to give evidence in your matter. Read more about how to issue subpoena's in our guide - How to Issue a Subpoena.
Step Four: Remember Some Things
Generally, remember a few of these tips throughout the process:
- Always refer to a Judge as 'Your Honour', a Judicial Registrar as 'Registrar' and a Senior Judicial Registrar as 'Senior Registrar'
- Treat every court appearance seriously. Post-COVID, the courts have become a more flexibly with online appearances but you still need to look and speak as though you are standing in a court room.
- Keep your evidence limited to what is relevant. A presiding judicial officer does not want to read through 200 pages of text messages when there is only one exchange that is relevant to the issue.
- Be specific with your evidence. Do not use general phrases like 'he/she always does X' or 'I was abused during the relationship'. Include specific examples including dates and times and write the exact facts of what happened.
- You can always book in for a one off consultation with a lawyer to get advice on drafted documents or the process if you are feeling unsure. It is always better to be over-prepared than be missing something important.
If you would like any further information in relation to the information contained in this article or would like to have a free consult with one of our lawyers, please do not hesitate in contacting our office.
This information does not constitute legal advice. You should consult with a lawyer to obtain independent legal advice relevant to your situation.
We are Family Court solicitors who are experienced in providing divorce and separation legal advice in parenting and financial disputes. We have many years experience in court advocacy and dealing with matters involving complicated parenting disputes including matters that require several Family Reports.
Contact us for more information or to book a free legal advice session to find out your options.
This information does not constitute legal advice. You should consult with a lawyer to obtain independent legal advice relevant to your situation.
