[Ed. Note: This article is reprinted with permission from the Office of Child Support Enforcement’s Newsletter Child Support Report, Volume 37 No. 5 June 2015.]
ACCESS TO JUSTICE
Navigating the legal system can be time-consuming and frustrating to people with good legal representation. Parents involved in domestic relations matters who cannot afford such advice find the system much more difficult. The Third Circuit Court of Michigan, located in Detroit, is the eighth largest court in the country. Over 80 percent of our domestic relations litigants represent themselves in divorce, custody, paternity, personal protection, and child support cases. The legal system calls these pro per litigants. With over 32,000 domestic relations cases initiated in this court in 2014 alone, the lack of attorneys can strain both litigants and the court.
Lack of knowledge is the biggest problem in court cases without attorney involvement. Pro per litigants who do not understand how the judicial system works can have serious problems. For example, when noncustodial parents’ incomes drop, they might not know that they need to file a motion to modify child support payments. Instead of finding out what to do, some ignore the situation in hopes that it will just go away. They might then fail to meet their child support obligation and end up with a contempt of court citation. Because the court cannot retroactively modify child support, both the in pro per litigant and the court get frustrated. The litigants are often angry because they cannot pay, and the court staff is frustrated because it cannot assist litigants who did not ask for the court’s help at the proper time. This lack of knowledge and access to justice becomes detrimental to both parties.
Our solution is education and empowerment. In the Third Circuit Court and its child support enforcement arm, the Wayne County Friend of the Court, we recognize the devastating effect that lack of knowledge has on our litigants. We implemented programs and procedures to increase their understanding of and access to our court system. As an initial step, we developed easy-to-understand motion packets that help parents through the filing process for child support, child custody, and parenting time changes or enforcement. We provide hard copies of the materials at several locations throughout the court and they are printable from the court’s website.
The availability of motion packets will not work, however, if litigants do not complete and file the motions correctly. To assist parents, we have a self-help center that has motion packets and information pamphlets available, as well as public computers. Parents can use the computers to access www.michiganlegalhelp.org, a site that provides legal advice on domestic relations issues and helps litigants complete and print out motions and other legal documents. Additionally, the self-help center has information about agencies and legal aid offices that provide legal assistance, including volunteer attorneys who provide free on-site and off-site legal advice. The court also offers an on-site legal clinic several days each month and sponsors community outreach clinics during the year that provide free legal advice to litigants throughout our county, including libraries and United Auto Workers centers. All of this updated information can be found on our website. When litigants use these resources, filings are more complete and they are better prepared for court hearings.
While trying to provide equal access to all litigants regardless of economic status can be daunting, to us it is an imperative goal. Our court diligently strives to provide the best resources to our pro se litigants so they can achieve the best results in their domestic relations matters for themselves and their families.
