Brenda King stood in divorce court, completely unsure about what she was legally allowed to do or say to help show she should have custody of her children.
As a high school dropout with a GED but no legal training, she didn't know what evidence was off-limits. She didn't know when to object. She hadn't subpoenaed witnesses, and she had the uncomfortable task of having to cross-examine her former husband and his new girlfriend.
"I'm a good mother," the Everett woman told the judge, whose patience had worn thin. "I'm a lousy lawyer."
On Thursday, the Washington Supreme Court will hear arguments about whether people who can't afford a lawyer for their divorce -- particularly when children are involved -- should be given one at public expense.
[...]
In the trial, she claimed he had anger problems. He claimed she was mentally unfit. In the end, Michael King won custody of the children, leaving Brenda King -- who'd done most of the caring for the children -- limited to seeing them every other weekend.
The outcome devastated the woman, said attorney Katie O'Sullivan, whose firm, Perkins Coie, is now representing her for free.
"This case is an effort to get her a new trial, with a lawyer, and an opportunity to have both sides of the story told," O'Sullivan said.
She contends that people in Brenda King's situation have a right, under the state constitution, to have an attorney represent them in court.
Brenda King could have used some help from the Minnesota Judicial Branch. Too bad she didn't live there.
If all else fails go pro se when you live in Minnesota.
Courting the boom of do-it-yourselfers
As more people are handling their own legal cases, Minnesota courts try to find more ways to give them a helping hand.
Dana McKenzie was busy Thursday dispensing free expert advice to a bunch of do-it-yourselfers. But this wasn't a hardware store, and they weren't learning how to replace a faucet.
They were at the Ramsey County Courthouse, finding out how to represent themselves in court in family-law cases -- divorce, child support and child custody.
Anecdotal evidence and national studies suggest that more people are going to court on their own behalf without the help of an attorney. And while Minnesota courts don't keep statistics about the number of cases involving parties that the legal system calls pro se litigants -- a Latin term meaning "for self" -- local courts are expanding efforts to meet the demand and finding new ways to help.
There are two Hennepin County District Court self-help centers, one in the Government Center and one at the family courts building.
Together, the centers helped 35,000 people last year. Many of those people, if not most of them, were there to get help with representing themselves.
With legal forms and basic information available through such centers or on the Internet, "There are very few [family-law] issues where people can't make a decent effort at doing it themselves," said McKenzie, a St. Paul family-law attorney.
No comments:
Post a Comment