Court Pleadings

If you are unable to find an attorney to represent you, you may be able to represent yourself in court. You should be very careful about representing yourself, however; you will need to follow the same rules that attorneys must follow.

We have some pleadings on our website that may be useful to you in certain cases. To use these pleadings, you will answer a series of questions; that will create a pleading for you to file in court. You will be representing yourself; nobody from this website will be representing you.

The pleadings currently on our website are listed below; we will be adding additional pleadings.

Before you decide to use a pleading and represent yourself, you should do the following:

1. Make sure you have checked all avenues for getting an attorney. In some cases, attorneys may represent you without charging you a fee up front because the attorney get his or her fees out of money you win if you win your case, or the attorney may be able to ask the court to order the other side to pay your attorney fees. If you don’t know any private attorneys, you can contact your local county bar association to ask for the names of attorneys in your area that handle the legal problem you are having. You can also check with your local legal services programs for assistance. To find the organizations in your county, click here.
2. Check to see if the county where you plan to file your pleading has any local rules that you should read before you file your pleading. You can check to see if the county has any local rules by clicking here.
3. Read the informational article listed for the pleading to determine if it is the right pleading for you.
4. Try to get the most recent court order or pleading from your case to have in front of you while you are answering the questions for the pleading.

PLEADINGS

Motion for Continuance. This pleading can be used if there is a hearing set in court and you want to ask the court to change the hearing to another date. Click here to see the informational article; the link to the pleading is at the end of the article.

Petition to Modify Child Support. This pleading can be used if you think child support should be increased or decreased. Click here to see the informational article; the link to the pleading is at the end of the article.

Last revised: 9-05.