Ohio Judges See More Do-It-Yourself Divorces and System Slowdown

With the economy down and the cost of lawyers high, more people are choosing to represent themselves in divorce cases. But legal amateurs who struggle with complicated paperwork are slowing down an already clogged system, some judges say. "It's kind of a nightmare sometimes," said Franklin County, Ohio, Domestic Relations Judge Dana Suzanne Preisse. "You would prefer to have at least one competent attorney on the case. But I understand how some people can't afford it."

2008-07-22 12:00:00 AM

"It's kind of a nightmare sometimes," said Franklin County, Ohio, Domestic Relations Judge Dana Suzanne Preisse. "You would prefer to have at least one competent attorney on the case. But I understand how some people can't afford it."

Christa and Walter Wood recently filed for their dissolution pro se, a Latin term for representing yourself.

"When we separated, we wrote out our own agreement and then went to divorcesyourself.com," Christa Wood said.

Legal information is widely available in bookstores and on the Internet for couples looking to save money. Legal fees for the simplest dissolution, not involving children, are about $1,000, Columbus, Ohio-area lawyers say. Dissolutions with children start around $1,500.

The Woods, who married in 1996 and have two children, say the decision to split was difficult enough without adding legal bills, too. The couple spent $150 to download forms from the Internet and $175 to file for dissolution.

"The paperwork was difficult," Walter Wood said. "There were snags, but we were able to take care of it."

Self-representation is an absolute right. But it slows an already-clogged system that isn't designed for amateurs, said Judge James Mason of Franklin County Domestic Relations Court.

"It's an ever-increasing problem," Mason said. "Some of these cases just need so much massaging."

His bailiff estimates that pro se filings, relatively unusual a decade ago, now amount to more than a third of Mason's cases.

"There's definitely more self-represented people, but I wouldn't say it's bogging us down," said Lisa Dwenger, administrator of the Hamilton County Court of Domestic Relations in Cincinnati. "I would say it is challenging for magistrates and judges because they have to hold them (pro se filers) to the same standards as attorneys, and that's difficult because they don't have the same training."

In Hamilton County, 251 of the 3,262 divorce and dissolution filings in 1998 were done without a lawyer, Dwenger said, compared with 436 out of 2,458 last year.

Dwenger said the Ohio Supreme Court is helping county court administrators deal with the problem of pro se filers seeking free legal advice.

"What tends to happen is that a self-represented person tends to ask more questions of our staff," she said.

Staff may direct unrepresented filers on certain procedures but cannot offer legal advice. The Supreme Court sent a representative to Cincinnati for a workshop on how to deal with questions, Dwenger said.

"We try to do what we can to keep our people from saying the wrong thing," she said.

Mason said domestic court officials in Franklin County plan to set up a center at the court this year to provide information on self-representation, initially offering packets on simple cases such as uncontested divorces and dissolutions without children.