Self Representation at Family Court

[ljhals]

Hello all. My first thread here so bear with me!
I currently have a PSO in place. Solicitor costs are spiraling as my ex is being awkward. I don't qualify for legal aid. Thinking about representing myself in court, but I am honestly petrified to the point my anxiety has been triggered.
Does anyone have any experience in this, or have any advice?
TIA.

Check out the FB group Children's Rights UK. They have a wealth of info on representing yourself

I'm not on FB, but perhaps they have a website?

He is honestly just a horrid man.

This is great, thank you.

Do the charge a fee?

How did it go for you?

Thank you, everyone, for your help!

Hiya. We did this as my partner's ex was a nasty piece of work and a lawyer. So they dragged things out to try and cost us a load of money and it did. In the end we represented ourselves. It was stressful and involved a lot of work for the submissions (the court tells you what they want and when). We had to cut down our submissions according to the judge and we did.

In the end we won and the nasty ex, supposed lawyer was told by the judge not to contact us again and has never been seen since.

Oh and I was scared as hell, especially when it came to giving evidence. I had to have two attempts on the oath as I was so nervous I got it wrong. However, that worked in my favour as the judge could tell I was nervous and thought I was being honest and gave more credence to my testimony than anyone else's. It also helped that the ex didn't turn up in the end for the final hearings.

...just typing this up again and remembering it is making me nervous again.

As others have said, get and use the help that I didn't know existed.

Get on Facebook (you can have yourself hidden to everyone and not post anything) and use that site and come off it afterwards. DO whatever you need to do.

Just want to say, I have been a litigant in person lots of times and it’s manageable, I’ve always taken a mckenzie friend for moral support. If you want professional help, I’d 100% trust a barrister more than a solicitor, having had contact with both more times than I’d like to think about. Solicitors have over promised, shit stired and been very expensive for basically fuck all. A direct access Barrister who specialises in family court can be great if you need support, much more realistic and better value for money. I would never go near a solicitor again. Depends what you want to get from the hearing, you may be able to get a free 30 min call with a few solicitors and barristers to get some lightweight general advice and that might help you narrow it all down, you could also speak to a professional McKenzie friend service to get some help with that, but don’t forget, they are not actually legally qualified, but I still think they can be very useful indeed, and much more affordable.
Also be careful telling them you’re anxious lest you get framed as a historical woman, they want to see you looking grown up and level, even if you have a cry it’s good to come back to that place if you can. For some moronic reason they seem to think how are you act in court is a good reflection of the kind of mother you are.
good luck xxx

@Aldibag If you are in a contentious situation with a person who is very difficult, he may not tell the truth. Anything you think he will lie about, try to have evidence of the truth.
@Aldibag really good advice 👍🏼thank you. I’ll definitely take that one on board