Ideas for Pro Se Litigants
Every situation is of its own but consider this; Would you leave your child with no independent adult supervision in the hands of a physical/sexual abuser and just give up? If not, then why would you do so with an abuser who engages in emotional manipulation? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S65dyKck2X4) You can fight back. If you're judge is bias, your money will be better spent in appellate courts. (NOTE: This article and its suggestion constitute general information. It does not constitute legal advice or mental health advice. I am not a lawyer or a mental health professional. For legal advice, consult an attorney. For mental health advice seek a professional.)
1. No matter where you are in the divorce/ child custody process, document everything in a journal. And follow “The List”, which can be found here: http://forum.dadsdivorce.com/viewtopic.php?t=13374
2. If you have an android phone, download auto call recorder from the "Google Play Store". (It is available free at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.appstar.callrecorder) The free version works great and you can back up the calls on “dropbox” on the internet and play them on your computer. You must have the phone to your ear. It does NOT work with bluetooth or speakerphone. Record everyone you talk to including your own lawyer (if you have one), court clerks, secretaries etc. because you never know what conversation will later prove critical for some purpose. Only 12 states require consent of all parties in recording a call. Know the laws for your state (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_recording_laws).
a) If one party is in a state with more stringent laws at the time of the recorded conversation, the party in the state with the strictest laws applies.
b) A good app for recording conversations in person is "Smart Voice Recorder" also found free in the "Google Play Store".
3. Download “audacity” (available at https://www.audacityteam.org/download/) so you can edit and censor the recordings if you decide to make them publicly available. A tutorial for audacity can be found here: http://youtu.be/ZTTmOehuVE8. You can also use soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/domesticviolencebyproxy/jackass) to edit and post to the internet. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubm3u31UKVU)
4. Bring courtroom observers with you to court. Observers are voters so the more you have the merrier. Judges pay attention to who is in their courtroom -- especially folks that are visiting observers and might be from a news agency, some governmental watchdog entity, etc. If your “visitors” can sit home and watch court TV for a session, they can sit in family court for an hour. Make sure all of the “visitors” are not testifying in case a lawyer “invokes the rule” which is essentially sequestering anyone who may testify out of the courtroom so they can’t hear each other’s testimony.
5. Sit in on other’s court cases. Be a courtroom observer for someone else! And it doesn’t hurt if you prepare yourself for your own case by observing how the court (the actual room and the actual assigned judge) handles other matters. Go multiple times on different days until you feel you know “the drill” and won’t be uncomfortable in that environment on YOUR day in court.
6. Go to the court clerk, deed/records office. Read your ex’s attorney’s other cases. See what other attorneys did to combat that attorney. Print out copies of those cases and motions you find relevant.
a) If you are writing an appeal, the clerk for the Court of Appeals or Supreme Court for your state probably has file cabinets of sample documents for filing motions and appeals available for you to review.
b) Review other cases from other attorneys as well. Particularly messy cases that have a lot of motions filed in them. Basically you are doing what a paralegal does.
c) Some counties have these records available over the internet. Check other counties and see if their records are available. Then you can look up cases by attorney, pleadings, parties, etc. These online resources are also great because they are open 24/7/365. Don’t restrict yourself to your county. Just customize what you find in other counties to fit yours.
Cobb County Cherokee County Columbia County
Paulding County Richmond County Peach Court (Most Counties)
d) If, in your review of cases, a lawyer or your judge keeps popping up in alienation cases where the Court doesn’t order corrective action regarding the emotional manipulation, go public by posting all the court filings and transcripts you can get from your own case to the internet – provided, of course, that there has not been a court order that “seals” those documents from access by John Q. Public if he walked into the court clerk’s office and asked for your case file. What’s the judge going to do? Make you pay child support that you have a legal and moral obligation to provide and not let you see your child that you already don’t see? He can’t vent his chagrin by putting you in jail or imposing any fine merely because you provided yet another way for the public to see your case file’s contents or know what a witness said under oath.
7. Start a paper trail against any legal professional's misconduct. File complaints with the State Bar for any attorney misconduct which you can prove. State Bar complaints can lead to disbarment (the person can no longer practice law). If your jurisdiction has voluntary bar associations in addition to the State Bar, find out if the misbehaving professional belongs to any of those associations and file complaints with them too. Complaints with voluntary bar associations can lead to the professional being disqualified for membership in that association which, in turn, diminishes that professional’s prestige with other professionals and affects their rating in important directories like Martindale & Hubble. File complaints for judicial review against judges for judicial misconduct and abuse of discretion; in every jurisdiction there is some entity that oversees judicial officers for incompetency and violations of the judicial code of conduct.
8. Corrupt activities in state, local, or federal governments or in law enforcement should be reported to the FBI.
9. For documents that are public record and have not been court sealed, post them on youscribe.com, scribd.com or google docs. For Example:
https://www.scribd.com/doc/263855864/Motion-to-Set-Aside-Amended-3
10. File complaints against therapists with the APA, state association and or the state licensing board. http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx?item=4 and http://www.asppb.net
11. “The Lawyer Dude” created some awesome stuff that is still relevant today. He passed away a few years ago, but someone archived his work. Some of the links are broken so you may have to do some digging but you will find it is worth it.http://www.thelawyerdude.com/
http://www.thelawyerdude.com/www.lawyerdude.netfirms.com/6025.html http://www.thelawyerdude.com/www.lawyerdude.netfirms.com/ (If you have trouble with any links plug the url into wayback machine.)
12. You will not receive any professional (lawyer-like) courtesy from any of the members of the Bar, the court clerk, or the judge when you function as a pro se litigant (one who is his own lawyer). It is a disadvantage to you, if your ex has an attorney, because you can’t be as comfortable dealing with the legal issues as the lawyer who goes to court all the time. However, your advantage over any lawyer is that you know your ex and you only have one case to work on. If you are prepared to get “expert” on your case and your “issues” (the legal questions that need to be resolved in the courtroom), you can be effective even if you are a pro se litigant. Again, what’s the worst that could happen? The judge will make you pay child support and won’t let you see the child you already can’t see?
13. Is bad luck
14. If you need to look up appeals cases you can do so at the courthouse library using LexisNexis, Westlaw and also the books of annotated code for your state. Some public libraries have annotated code books and books on law reports as well. You can also do so online at http://leagle.com or http://justia.com.
15. Your state should have State Ethics Commission or Campaign Finance Commission. Look up which individuals/law firms contributed to which judge's elections and how much. (http://media.ethics.ga.gov/search/Campaign/Campaign_ByContributions.aspx)
16. When selecting a psychologist/psychiatrist, do your homework. Choose a clinical psychologist, knowledgeable in family attachment systems and personality disorders. Far too often courts give a Phd the same consideration as a PsyD. This is akin to a court appointing a proctologist to perform neurosurgery. If the court appoints an unqualified therapist, notify the psychologist that he should inform the court that the matter is beyond his purview and that he should decline the court's appointment. If he refuses, file a formal complaint in affidavit format with the state licensing board.
The therapist should not be a Christian Counselor or any other form of religious counselor. You want him/her to be a member of the ASPBB, APA or some other major national association. Review his/her Curriculum Vitae (CV) and try to find out if that person is willing to "pull the trigger" on an a "cluster b" diagnosis (Axis II). Find out what tests s/he requires to make such a call and make sure these specific tests are required by the court. MMPI-II alone is not good enough. You'll need the Millon test (MCMI-III) or other tests that the clinical forensic psychologist requires.
17. Parental alienation is listed in DSM-5 though not directly labeled as such:
DSM 5 Diagnostic Codes:
V61.20 Parent-child relational problem
V995.51 Child psychological abuse
V61.29 Child affected by parental relationship distress
Factitious disorder imposed on another is the DSM-5 terminology for factitious disorder by proxy or Munchausen disorder by proxy. Its definition is "falsification of physical or psychological signs or symptoms, or induction of injury or disease, in another, associated with identified deception." In some cases, that would describe the behavior of the alienating parent.
Delusional symptoms in partner of individual with delusional disorder is the DSM-5 terminology for shared psychotic disorder or folie a deux. The definition is: "In the context of a relationship, the delusional material from the dominant partner provides content for delusional belief by the individual who may not otherwise entirely meet criteria for delusional disorder."
** NEVER tell them EVERYTHING you know.
1. No matter where you are in the divorce/ child custody process, document everything in a journal. And follow “The List”, which can be found here: http://forum.dadsdivorce.com/viewtopic.php?t=13374
2. If you have an android phone, download auto call recorder from the "Google Play Store". (It is available free at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.appstar.callrecorder) The free version works great and you can back up the calls on “dropbox” on the internet and play them on your computer. You must have the phone to your ear. It does NOT work with bluetooth or speakerphone. Record everyone you talk to including your own lawyer (if you have one), court clerks, secretaries etc. because you never know what conversation will later prove critical for some purpose. Only 12 states require consent of all parties in recording a call. Know the laws for your state (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_recording_laws).
a) If one party is in a state with more stringent laws at the time of the recorded conversation, the party in the state with the strictest laws applies.
b) A good app for recording conversations in person is "Smart Voice Recorder" also found free in the "Google Play Store".
3. Download “audacity” (available at https://www.audacityteam.org/download/) so you can edit and censor the recordings if you decide to make them publicly available. A tutorial for audacity can be found here: http://youtu.be/ZTTmOehuVE8. You can also use soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/domesticviolencebyproxy/jackass) to edit and post to the internet. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubm3u31UKVU)
4. Bring courtroom observers with you to court. Observers are voters so the more you have the merrier. Judges pay attention to who is in their courtroom -- especially folks that are visiting observers and might be from a news agency, some governmental watchdog entity, etc. If your “visitors” can sit home and watch court TV for a session, they can sit in family court for an hour. Make sure all of the “visitors” are not testifying in case a lawyer “invokes the rule” which is essentially sequestering anyone who may testify out of the courtroom so they can’t hear each other’s testimony.
5. Sit in on other’s court cases. Be a courtroom observer for someone else! And it doesn’t hurt if you prepare yourself for your own case by observing how the court (the actual room and the actual assigned judge) handles other matters. Go multiple times on different days until you feel you know “the drill” and won’t be uncomfortable in that environment on YOUR day in court.
6. Go to the court clerk, deed/records office. Read your ex’s attorney’s other cases. See what other attorneys did to combat that attorney. Print out copies of those cases and motions you find relevant.
a) If you are writing an appeal, the clerk for the Court of Appeals or Supreme Court for your state probably has file cabinets of sample documents for filing motions and appeals available for you to review.
b) Review other cases from other attorneys as well. Particularly messy cases that have a lot of motions filed in them. Basically you are doing what a paralegal does.
c) Some counties have these records available over the internet. Check other counties and see if their records are available. Then you can look up cases by attorney, pleadings, parties, etc. These online resources are also great because they are open 24/7/365. Don’t restrict yourself to your county. Just customize what you find in other counties to fit yours.
Cobb County Cherokee County Columbia County
Paulding County Richmond County Peach Court (Most Counties)
d) If, in your review of cases, a lawyer or your judge keeps popping up in alienation cases where the Court doesn’t order corrective action regarding the emotional manipulation, go public by posting all the court filings and transcripts you can get from your own case to the internet – provided, of course, that there has not been a court order that “seals” those documents from access by John Q. Public if he walked into the court clerk’s office and asked for your case file. What’s the judge going to do? Make you pay child support that you have a legal and moral obligation to provide and not let you see your child that you already don’t see? He can’t vent his chagrin by putting you in jail or imposing any fine merely because you provided yet another way for the public to see your case file’s contents or know what a witness said under oath.
7. Start a paper trail against any legal professional's misconduct. File complaints with the State Bar for any attorney misconduct which you can prove. State Bar complaints can lead to disbarment (the person can no longer practice law). If your jurisdiction has voluntary bar associations in addition to the State Bar, find out if the misbehaving professional belongs to any of those associations and file complaints with them too. Complaints with voluntary bar associations can lead to the professional being disqualified for membership in that association which, in turn, diminishes that professional’s prestige with other professionals and affects their rating in important directories like Martindale & Hubble. File complaints for judicial review against judges for judicial misconduct and abuse of discretion; in every jurisdiction there is some entity that oversees judicial officers for incompetency and violations of the judicial code of conduct.
8. Corrupt activities in state, local, or federal governments or in law enforcement should be reported to the FBI.
9. For documents that are public record and have not been court sealed, post them on youscribe.com, scribd.com or google docs. For Example:
https://www.scribd.com/doc/263855864/Motion-to-Set-Aside-Amended-3
10. File complaints against therapists with the APA, state association and or the state licensing board. http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx?item=4 and http://www.asppb.net
11. “The Lawyer Dude” created some awesome stuff that is still relevant today. He passed away a few years ago, but someone archived his work. Some of the links are broken so you may have to do some digging but you will find it is worth it.http://www.thelawyerdude.com/
http://www.thelawyerdude.com/www.lawyerdude.netfirms.com/6025.html http://www.thelawyerdude.com/www.lawyerdude.netfirms.com/ (If you have trouble with any links plug the url into wayback machine.)
12. You will not receive any professional (lawyer-like) courtesy from any of the members of the Bar, the court clerk, or the judge when you function as a pro se litigant (one who is his own lawyer). It is a disadvantage to you, if your ex has an attorney, because you can’t be as comfortable dealing with the legal issues as the lawyer who goes to court all the time. However, your advantage over any lawyer is that you know your ex and you only have one case to work on. If you are prepared to get “expert” on your case and your “issues” (the legal questions that need to be resolved in the courtroom), you can be effective even if you are a pro se litigant. Again, what’s the worst that could happen? The judge will make you pay child support and won’t let you see the child you already can’t see?
13. Is bad luck
14. If you need to look up appeals cases you can do so at the courthouse library using LexisNexis, Westlaw and also the books of annotated code for your state. Some public libraries have annotated code books and books on law reports as well. You can also do so online at http://leagle.com or http://justia.com.
15. Your state should have State Ethics Commission or Campaign Finance Commission. Look up which individuals/law firms contributed to which judge's elections and how much. (http://media.ethics.ga.gov/search/Campaign/Campaign_ByContributions.aspx)
16. When selecting a psychologist/psychiatrist, do your homework. Choose a clinical psychologist, knowledgeable in family attachment systems and personality disorders. Far too often courts give a Phd the same consideration as a PsyD. This is akin to a court appointing a proctologist to perform neurosurgery. If the court appoints an unqualified therapist, notify the psychologist that he should inform the court that the matter is beyond his purview and that he should decline the court's appointment. If he refuses, file a formal complaint in affidavit format with the state licensing board.
The therapist should not be a Christian Counselor or any other form of religious counselor. You want him/her to be a member of the ASPBB, APA or some other major national association. Review his/her Curriculum Vitae (CV) and try to find out if that person is willing to "pull the trigger" on an a "cluster b" diagnosis (Axis II). Find out what tests s/he requires to make such a call and make sure these specific tests are required by the court. MMPI-II alone is not good enough. You'll need the Millon test (MCMI-III) or other tests that the clinical forensic psychologist requires.
17. Parental alienation is listed in DSM-5 though not directly labeled as such:
DSM 5 Diagnostic Codes:
V61.20 Parent-child relational problem
V995.51 Child psychological abuse
V61.29 Child affected by parental relationship distress
Factitious disorder imposed on another is the DSM-5 terminology for factitious disorder by proxy or Munchausen disorder by proxy. Its definition is "falsification of physical or psychological signs or symptoms, or induction of injury or disease, in another, associated with identified deception." In some cases, that would describe the behavior of the alienating parent.
Delusional symptoms in partner of individual with delusional disorder is the DSM-5 terminology for shared psychotic disorder or folie a deux. The definition is: "In the context of a relationship, the delusional material from the dominant partner provides content for delusional belief by the individual who may not otherwise entirely meet criteria for delusional disorder."
** NEVER tell them EVERYTHING you know.
