Yes. I will represemt myself for AVOs, etc, and have thought about it for property/child matters. I had a deal originally with my lawyer i call for advice only and do all the leg work. I was thus the one liaising with my ex's lawyers for the first 2-3 months. Once we got issued notice for interim hearing, he said its time for the professionals to take over. But in reality, if i didnt listen to him saying 'you dont have to prove you can retain the house as she hasnt given you her financials to assess what property settlement will look like' then i would have proven i could and may be not gone to court and spent $15k as this was a major deciding factor in her requesting the interim hearing.
My experience in the magistrate court was the judge treated me worse as i defended myself. Basically, a case a few before me she allowed the barrister to make comments/ask questions she did not allow me to ask. She also made me wait all day despite the court being in the country and 2 hours from daycare and me having to last minute organise the kids to be picked up by my dad. When i asked the court burser to please get seen due to kids, she said 'the magistrate will put self represented cases last'. The magistrate was once a lawyer and if everyone self represented then it would rip money from the system that allows the industry. Thats why in an early comment i said the system felt like an incestuous money pit to get 30% out of every family. Where lawyers, barristers and judges were all in cahoots.
I found it very hard in victoria to find info on things such as 'best way to prepare an affidavit' or 'example subpoena documents and how to fill those in'. In NSW there is more assistance. I know the family act is federal so may be i look there and self represent. Finding this website has been a blessing and given me more confidence to self represent. My lawyer doesnt go for the juggula enough which has again been highlighted in a recent example where i didnt get 30 sec of 'jugular' advice that could make a $8k difference to me. He gave me advise but then missed the jugualr part. Jugular being my drfinition of using the law to your advantage and be a prick. Like my ex's lawyer in an email telling her to steal the kids, do whatever you can to stop his 6 days a fortnight as its creating a precident that may be hard to break. Now i know that the $30k of household items she stripped are not likely to be captured in the asset pool, i bet my ex's lawyer said 'when you are about to move into your rental, take out an FVO, avoid him coming to stop you, and strip the family home'. Why didnt i get that advice from my lawyer? I will give him this feedback.
Final hearing is set for Aug 2021 and between now and then there isnt much to do. The psych report and mediation look like they will proceed regardless. Once i get the 'if you went to court for property orders i think you'd get X' from my lawyer then ill take over the negotiations and request he only do work under my instructions or for which i have approved. He needs some final info from me to give me this figure although i have a rough idea. His bill was not more than i was expecting but he didnt itemise the costs, just the work. Ie, he listed the items and then a total amount. I would have thought he'd have to itemise the costs too. Is that right?
@sammy01,
@Tim W and
@Atticus?
Also, a bit left field, but can i use subpoenaed psych reports for civil/crinimal matters, discuss those in the magistrates court, then use the transcript of that hearing as evidence to use this information in the family or circuit court? I think getting this info for my civil case will be easy but for the family case will be harder (and by the sounds of it challenged by her ex-psych) and i want to get it for my civil case and somehow use it for my family case. I figure civil court transcripts could be the method to achieve this.
Also, she has a new psych but i dont know who it is. She said the other day 'my knew psych says youre the abuser..' so i wouldnt mind subpoaenaing him/her too. But how? Can i force her to tell me who that is? Can i subpaoena my ex to get the psych's name?
