
What is a do-it-yourself divorce?
Increasingly common is the do-it-yourself divorce, where a spouse or spouses decide to go at it without a lawyer, or pro se. In many states, spouses argue their divorce cases pro se in as many as 50 percent of all divorce cases. Pro se divorce is particularly common among couples who expect easy divorce, where there are no children involved, no assets or debts, and the marriage was short-lived. Other times, people choose pro se divorces simply because they cannot afford a lawyer. Unfortunately, pro se divorces have wreaked havoc of the family law system, because litigants often sign the wrong forms or fill the right forms out incorrectly. Also, in a typical pro se case, the spouses often end up bickering in front of a judge, and the results are often detrimental to one spouse or both.
