Free child custody help. You’re facing a child custody battle and you have very little money and you’ve called Law Firms and you’ve found out about the fees. You can’t afford what they’re charging, you are starting to panic. What are you going to do? I’m Lee Rosen; I practice family law for more than 20 years. I’ve met hundreds of people in your situation, its very tough I know. I have people sit in my office and cry and you feel like your stuck, it’s an awful situation and you may feel like you have nowhere left to turn. Let’s talk about some options.
First of all, if you have a child support case, then you can definitely get some free or very inexpensive help from your local child supporting enforcement agency. Go to the agency in your home County; understand that they can only help you with child support not with child custody. What about custody? Well, first you need to get on the phone and start calling. Some legal aide offices help with the custody cases, most don’t because they just don’t have the resources but you should call them first. If they don’t offer help they may know who does. Next, call your area bar association; they’re maybe more than one that you can call. They’re maybe a State bar association or County bar association and even a city bar association. Asks if they have volunteer lawyers or lawyers that work on a sliding fee schedule, this association won’t do the work themselves but they may have lists or services that they can hook you up with. Call them they may know something.
When you call a bar associations, ask if they have pro bono services. That’s the Latin phrase used by lawyers to refer to doing work as a volunteer. If that doesn’t work, then start looking for non-profit agencies, some areas has a women center or a men center that might offer help. There maybe other non-profits look on Goggle for listings. Next in line are self help options. Some Counties have self help centers where they offer advice and forums; they are not going to provide you with a lawyer but they maybe able to give you some written instructions and guidance. If you can’t find to self help center in your area then hit the clerk’s office in your County, in North Carolina you’re looking for the office of the clerk of superior court. They manage the court, that they can give you legal advice. But they might be able to head you in the right direction.
They can also allow you to see old court files which you might find useful in terms of pulling out forms or examples that you can use to draft your own documents. Another source of form is the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts website, Goggle that as well. Clearly, many of these options involve you doing the work yourself, that’s not too hard if you can reach an agreement with the other parent. It’s much harder if you have to go to court, recognize however that nearly 100% of people worry about going to court. Most people thinks that’s where they’re headed, the reality however is very, very different. The fact is, that less than 5% of people actually end up having a judge to decide custody of their children. Most people agree and they don’t go to court, hopefully you will eventually reach agreement. Lots of people think that’s not going to happen, but I can tell you that from most people it does.
Keep in mind all also that in most relationships, Mom and Dad both face the same economic pressures. When mom can’t afford a lawyer dad often can’t either and vice versa. That’s the situation for a lot of families. I hope I have given you some places to start, you won’t always find the workable solution with these ideas but you’ve got the shot. Get on the web, pick up the phone and get to work. You can find more resources on our website at rosen.com. Good luck!
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