On Thursday I finally went down to the court house. I filed papers for Temporary Alimony and Child Support. I don't have health care coverage wtih my job yet, so I won't let the divorce go thru.

All Wenedsday my stomache was in knots about it. I was scared to death. AFter I got done filing everything though, I felt wonderful! Yeah, extra money for me and the kids, coming in regularly. Don't have to go beg!!! Don't have to make a fool of myself, and wait on him.

But I am scared how he's going to respond when he gets the paperwork. I mailed it certified mail. Not going to turn up on his door step and deliver the paperwork. By the way, I'm doing all this myself. There is no lawyer. There's me, my brain, the law library, and my computer! I wrote the request for a hearing. And if it goes thru, that means I'm going to have to figure out how to write the final.

I'm a little scared. I'm scared of how court will be. Anyone have familiarity with these proceedings? What is the judge going to expect in court? I've done court before for Child Support for my son. But it was with the Attorney General's office. The Lawyer asked all the questions, and it was a painless experience for me, well better than painless, a liberating and justifying experience! I'm at a loss as to what I have to prove in court. But I'm not terribly scared.

Good for you Charity! That was a necessary step. You need to sever your dependence on him and this is the best way to do it. You should be proud of yourself for doing this on your own. Can't help with the legal questions, but I'm sure someone here will. Stay strong!

Today I got notice from the Legal Aid Clinic that an interna has been assigned to my case!! YIPEEE!!!! I still have to interview with her and see if she'll accept my case. She's a law student with the local Law School, and she's got a liscience to act under the advise of her prof. But I might have her to go with me to court! I am so excited. I just can't believe it. I've been trying to get this legal help since Sept. 1. Finally getting somewhere. I hope I'm approved.

First of all I want to say that you are doing the right thing. You really don't need a lawyer to process the paperwork for you on matters like this. The lawyers charge an arm and a leg to do this for you when you are the one who really understands your case anyways.

As for the actual procedings, I didn't have a lawyer for my first appearance. There are 2 things you must be aware of though, you either have a conference or a meeting. A meeting is basically like that of what you would see on Matlock. The Plantiff calls their first witness and they take the stand, everything is recorded by a court recorder for future record retrieval. This type of atmosphere requires you to understand how courts operate. If you want to talk to the judge of course with the other lawyer listening without having to call witnesses, you have to do one of 2 things. You can request to go to chambers which you (Your lawyer if you have one or you if representing yourself) and his lawyer so you can talk much like the conference I will explain in a minute. The other thing you can do is request a side bar so that both lawyers (You in this case) and the judge talk for a minute on the side so you can mention something important. In my case my lawyer requested it to mention that the child in question wouldn't get any time with most oof my family because of the proposed court order, allowing the judge the opportunity to change it before it was official. Chambers is more of a way to discuss possible ways to settle without a hearing, but a hearing willhappen if the two parties can't agree on certain issues.

As for the the conference, this is most likely what you are going to during their first appearance. I didn't have a lawyer in my first conference and you really don't need one because of the way it is set up. You basically are talking before a master (a lower leveled judge of some sort) who will listen to both sides explain their stories and why they feel they are entitled to whatever they are fighting for. In family court this is common for custody. I didn't say much in my conference but what I said had the most impact and I won immediate full custody of my children (My bad luck was that my third child was born after the court procedings so I can't get custody until after evaluations are done now).

The master will make a judgement and then pass it on to a judge if a party contests to the judges decision (Form of an appeal, kind of like when you lose a ticket in court you can appeal to a higher court and get the fun job of making the police officer look like a fool on the stand. In fact it is set up exactly like a police ticket. If you ever got one you would know that the first appearance you stand before a judge in a small district court and tell the judge why you don't deserve the ticket, as does the police officer. If you lose, you appeal and have to go against the DA's office. The cop is nothing more then a witness there and you learn quickly that innocent until proven guilty begins at this level in the court system because it is hard for a cop to win in this system, they have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt your guilt (Watched a lady walk away form friving around a school bus with the stop side out and flashing because the police officer said the top lights were yellow).

Ok, enough with the side stories. Basically if you plan on representing yourself you should be ok as long as it doesn't go up to the level of hearing. If it does, you need to learn all aspects of the court system so you understand what is going on while you sit in the court room. For child support and alimony this is not as important but make sure you know the state laws for your state before you enter the court room. I printed them out and highlighted the important sections so that I wouldn't make a mistake.

Glenn

I know for me being married only 3 yrs I am not entitled to ANY alimony just child support.

I was married 4 years and receive child support and 2.5 years of alimony. Maybe it was because of my situation, not sure. But anything is possible so don't give up!!

Sunflower -

If you need help with the final decree, please email me at ange.collier @ gmail.com

I've got links to a site I can give you with sample packets for a TX divorce, and you can have my password to login. It's got everything you need, including the Declaration under the Uniform Child Custody Act that you'll need. Everything is in MS Word format, so you can open it right on your computer and just type away.

Hope this helps.