I know that lots of people are worried about self-representing in court and having done so for both the financial aspects of my divorce and, very recently, child arrangements I thought I would put forward my view that it is actually not that bad!
I could have afforded solicitors/barristers but felt that nobody was going to know my position as well as me so I didn't think I had anything to lose by doing it my self. My Ex-H is a very difficult character so it was not an easy ride by any stretch of the imagination.
I will concentrate on the child arrangement side of things but happy to answer any questions on the whole lot.
My ex was the applicant for this as we had an informal agreement that I changed (he originally had every weekend and I changed it to every other weekend and one night during the week). As resident parent I basically enforced this myself and he applied to the court for a child arrangement order 'to decide who DS should live with'. He was suggesting that DS (8yo) should live with him full time despite only seeing his Dad at weekends since separation when DS was 3 (his choice). There had also been incidents of threatening behaviour, resulting in the police being called, but no arrests/charges.
One of the greatest frustrations through the whole thing was the slow timescales and often poor admin of the court system. We had a couple of hearings adjourned because letters were not sent out from the court until the week before and then he said he could not make it. Also for our first hearing CAFCASS had not produced their report so we all turned up only to be sent straight home again.
Final hearing was last week. In the financial aspects of our divorce I had judges at each hearing that I thought did a good job but one that really seemed to take against me so I was a bit worried about what would happen with the child arrangements. I don't know if it is the same in all areas but we had magistrates (x3) instead of a judge. Nobody had told me this would be the case but it seemed to work well. They have a legal advisor in court to make sure that the correct process is being followed.
At our second hearing it was ordered that no further CAFCASS/other reports were required and that we should each submit a position statement 2 weeks before the final hearing (and exchange with the other). As we were both self-representing, we were then to bring a list of questions in response to the other's position statement to the court on the day of the final hearing. The legal advisor would ask the questions, we were not allowed to cross-examine each other.
At the final hearing we had 2 x magistrates (I guess one may have been off sick, but it was not mentioned). The hearing was scheduled for 'all day'. I didn't believe it could possibly take that long but it did, we were there from 0900-1630. First of all we went in to the court room and the head magistrate explained how the day would run. I was the respondent so my ex went on the stand first (an actual stand, near the front of the room but we were allowed to sit down). He was asked questions first by the legal advisor and then by the magistrates so they could understand the background of the case, the current situation and what he was proposing. The legal advisor then asked him my questions (even if they had discussed similar points before). We then swapped and I went up on the stand and went through the same process. I felt they were very fair and thorough and we both had an opportunity to have our say on each point (he had an opportunity to ask questions at the end based on my time on the stand and I made notes during his and went through them when I was up there).
I would say it definitely pays to do your research. I made reference to the child welfare checklist and made sure all my points were about what was best for DS. My ex spent a lot of time talking about how bad I was and this didn't go down well with the magistrates. They were clearly very keen to maintain the status quo if possible and, broadly speaking, that is what happened.
I felt that my questions were really what helped me out. I had thought in advance what why ex might fail to mention/be intentionally unclear on and my questions were targeted to make sure that those points were raised. They were only short bullet points and that seemed to go down well. My ex wrote his with a para of comment and then a question and the legal advisor ended up paraphrasing.
I would say don't be afraid. Of course I was nervous, it was pivotal for my child's future well being but so long as you go in with a child focused view and always tell the truth then I don't think you can go far wrong. The court are very keen to help you out with anything procedural/points of law you don't understand. Just ask as you are going along.
I hope that's helpful. I could have written pages but have kept it short and you can ask away if you have any questions.