People who represent themselves in family proceedings without a lawyer (Self-Represented Litigants) can be at a major disadvantage. This is because family law is complicated and court processes can be quite difficult to understand. We wanted to put together a list of actionable items for people who will choose to proceed without a lawyer.

Before deciding you represent yourself, you should speak with a legal professional. A lawyer understands the entire court process. They would be able to explain your rights, responsibilities and how the law applies to your specific case. A lawyer will be on top of Court deadlines, fee payments and will be able to explain to you all court decisions. While Court staff can aid you in filling out your documents and provide you information about Court proceedings, they cannot give you legal advice.

Before you commit to representing yourself, please think about whether you have:

• The time to dedicate yourself to the matter
• Sufficient resources
• Legal knowledge
• Public speaking skills

Even if you choose to be a self-represented litigant, at minimal, you should seek legal advice about your case. At Genuine Legal, we provide quality support for Self-Represented Litigants at minimal costs.

One of our goals is to help self-represented litigants by guiding them through the court system and assisting them in the preparation of court documents. This is crucial, particularly at the start of a legal matter. We can help you develop your case theory. i.e. What is your case about? What is relevant to your matter? What results are you trying to achieve? We will explain the entire process to you in a simple and well-structured way.

We do not profit from this. Here are all the costs:

• We offer a consultation before a Court Hearing with one of our Principal Solicitors for $90 incl GST.
• We can settle your court documents (applications, affidavit material except trial documents) for $360 incl GST.

Hopefully we can help you be more well-equipped in Court.