shlep: the Self-Help Law ExPress

 The Minnesota Judicial Branch is constantly adding to its useful Self Help Center.  In addition to several online documents about the divorce process and relevant law, you can now download and view a 26-minute video, How to Start a Divorce. (via SelfHelpSupport.org) Although meant to be viewed as a single presentation, it has been divided for downloading purposes into eight parts:

Part 1: What Will it Cost and How Long will it Take
Part 2: How can a Lawyer and Mediator Help You?
Part 3: Find the Court Forms

Part 4: Starting the Petition  
Part 5: Petition - Finances, Property and Debt  
Part 6: Petition - Child Custody, Parenting Time and support   
Part 7: Petition - Requests to the court and Completing the Summons  
Part 8: Service - Delivering your Forms to Your Spouse and the Final Steps to Divorce 

    On the other hand, although it portrays some romantic difficulties and betrayal, Antitrust: the movie (2001) — starring Ryan Phillippe, Claire Forlani, and Tim Robbins — won’t be particularly helpful for learning about either divorce nor antitrust law.   As we’ve been reminding you, however, the Silver Telly Award-winning video Fair Fight in the Marketplace is an excellent, entertaining antitrust primer.  The 30-minute video, which is presented by the American Antitrust Institute, can be viewed online at any time here.  Fair Fight will soon be available on your tv, on affiliates of the Public Broadcasting System.  You can find the schedule of PBS airings, here, as well as a 30-second promo.  As of March 15, 2007, the broadcast schedule includes:

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      The Law Courts Education Society of British Columbia has produced an impressive array of materials for litigants without lawyers, as part of its work “improving access to the justice system through public legal education.”  For example, in addition to the Court Tips Videos we wrote about last night, they’ve written a set of Guidebooks for Representing Yourself in Supreme Court. 

  One of the seventeen Guidebooks currently available has some very useful information that should help pro se or “in person” litigants on either side of our border (as well as the average legal client who has retained a lawyer and doesn’t want to waste valuable billable minutes).  It’s called A Guide to a Successful Interview with a Lawyer.  The Guide “describes four steps to take before you see a lawyer.”  It further explains:

“If you are receiving free legal advice, it is likely that your time with a lawyer will be limited. Generally, “pro bono” appointments are of thirty minute duration. Therefore, it is important that you have all of your pertinent information organized in a fashion that will allow you and your lawyer to make optimal use of this limited time.

“If you follow the four steps in this guide, you will be well prepared and know what to expect when you meet your lawyer. This will help you to make good use of your time and be in a better position to understand your rights.”

Here are the four steps covered in the Interview Guide:   

• Step 1: Fill out the Information Sheet [a form is provided]
• Step 2: Prepare your Document List [there’s a Document List form, too]
• Step 3: Prepare your written statement [your story in chronological point form]
• Step 4: Going to the interview [be “slow, straightforward, specific, and systematic“]

 From my experience interviewing clients, I strongly agree with the Guide’s advice: “You need to give the lawyer both the good information and the bad information. . . . The more straightforward you are in the interview, the better advice the lawyer can give you.”

 Thanks to the The Law Courts Education Society of British Columbia (Canada), seven online video presentations are now available for self-represented litigants in British Columbia courts.  Called Court Tips: Representing Yourself in Chambers, the series covers the following topics: Presenting Your Case in Chambers; Changing a Child Support Order; Putting Your Best Case Forward; Avoiding the Pitfalls in Family Matters; What to Expect from the Chambers Process; Frequently Asked Questions about Chambers; and What to Expect the Day of the Hearing.  We’re told by a reliable source at SelfHelpSupport.org that they are “very well done.”
 

I just listened to a podcast from the King County Law Library about disability rights law (Jan. 29, 2007). I’d like to share two things with Shlep readers:

(1) The podcast interviews the judge who was cochair of the committee that produced Ensuring Access for People with Disabilities: A Guide for Courts (Aug. 2006). This is a good resource not just for courts, but for people with disabilities and those who work with or serve them. It has a brief overview of types of disabilities — emphasizing that individuals need to be treated individually (a person with low vision who can read enlarged type needs a different accommodation than another person with low vision). It has practical advice for the inclusion of people with disabilities as parties, witnesses, jurors, attorneys. (The guide was excerpted in the August 2006 issue of the Washington State Bar News.)

(2) These are the sites the podcast’s producers recommend for information on disability rights law:

• U.S. Dept. of Justice’s ADA Home Page.
• Disabilityinfo.gov
• Disability Law, Wex (Cornell’s Legal Information Institute)

 The newest HALT eJournal (Feb. 26, 2007) has information about two programs that increase access to courts and about its growing Everyday Law Series of brochures.

1. New videos explain small-claims process Thanks to a $2,200 grant from the (unified, of course) State Bar of Michigan, “Small claims courts became a little easier to navigate for Saginaw residents after the Bar Association’s Pro Bono Committee created videotapes to explain the process. The four tapes show how to file a claim, defend against a claim, collect a judgment and what a staged small claims hearing looks like.”  (see The Saginaw News, January 28, 2007)  The tapes are available at all five branches of the Saginaw Public Library.  A small claims clinic is also presented at the County Governmental Center. [Ed. Note: It would be nice if the videos could be available online through the court or Library website.]
2.  Extended Family Court hours in Maricopa County, AZ.  For about a month now, family court in Phoenix, Arizona, has had evening hours Tuesday-Friday until 9 p.m. and Saturday hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (see Superior Court News Release, “Superior Court Announces NIght and Saturday Hours,” Jan. 23, 2007)  “The purpose of moving proceedings into the evening and on weekends, is to provide people who work, attend school and have other demands during the day with a timely and more convenient alternative to resolve their pending cases, without adding undue financial and emotional stress to the parents and children from daytime conflicts,” said Presiding Family Court Judge Norman Davis.   The extended hours will be primarily scheduled only at the request of litigants, unless the court needs to schedule additional matters to better utilize court resources.  A dozen programs will be available for Family Court litigants including: decree on demand; support modification; support enforcement; parenting time enforcement; hearings on orders of assignment; hearings on pending orders of protection; parenting conferences; mediation; early resolution conferences; Self-Service Center; and educational seminars.

  HALT also announced publication of a new Everyday Law Series brochure: Getting Your Credit Report.  If you need money from a lending institution, HALT says “it’s a good idea to get a free copy of your credit report beforehand to make sure it’s accurate and up-to-date.” Getting Your Credit Report, identifies and answers common questions people have about credit reports and how to gain access to them. Besides clicking the above link, you can write to HALT for a free copy.

• The Fair Credit Reporting Act entitles every American to one free credit report a year from each of the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. As the HALT brochure notes, you can contact Annual Credit Report Request Service
  to receive your free annual credit report. To purchase a copy of your credit report, contact: Equifax: 800-685-1111; Experian: 888-EXPERIAN (888-397-3742); Trans Union: 800-916-8800.
   

          Below the fold, read about two other brochures:  Do-It-Yourself Law Reviews: Taxes (which compares the most popular tax preparation programs) and Filing for an Uncontested Divorce (which introduces you to the process of obtaining an uncontested divorce, and discusses doing so pro se).

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Many of our families include one or more adults who need extra care — because they’re suffering from dementia, their mobility is limited, they’re just a little frail and forgetful. Often these adults are elderly — but not always. In my family, it’s a middle-aged sister who has been disabled by strokes and some other problems. Fortunately, my brother, sister-in-law, and partner are all on the same page — and my sister is pleased with the arrangements we’ve made. But in some families there are difficult conflicts: dad wants to stay in his home (even though he can’t handle stairs anymore, let alone get to the grocery store), daughter wants him to live in her home in Missoula, son wants him in an assisted living center in Eugene. Enter mediation.

See Mediators Save Caregivers’ Relationships: Professionals Can Help Siblings Make The Tough Health Care Decisions For Aging Parents, CBS News, Feb. 20, 2007. A list of Mediation Resources for Caregivers is here.

Thanks: Idealawg.