Florida Bar's Advanced Registered Paralegal Program

In December the Florida Bar News published an article about proposed rules under consideration - "Access Commission Looks at Several Legal Access Initiatives".  Among those initiatives is a proposal for the creation of a new tier of paralegals - an Advanced Registered Paralegal. Regarding that initiative, the linked Florida Bar News article states:

ADVANCED FLORIDA REGISTERED PARALEGALS

The commission’s Referral and Assistance Committee voted favorably and forwarded its proposal to create the “Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal” designation as part of the Florida Registered Paralegal Program created by Chapter 20 of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar to the commission’s Executive Committee for review. The Executive Committee chair forwarded the proposal informally to the Bar Board of Governors for input. The proposal is on the Bar Board of Governors January 31 agenda.

Advanced paralegals would have extra education and work experience requirements than is currently required for Florida Registered Paralegal status. Advanced paralegals would have to be aware of “lawyer’s protocols” in performing authorized services, and the proposed rule would allow those paralegals to engage in the limited practice of law under a lawyer’s supervision in “family law, landlord tenant law, guardianship law, wills, advance directives, or debt collection defense.”

The rule also sets out a licensing and disciplinary process, and provides that duties may not require “independent professional legal judgment” and that the Advanced Florida Registered Paralegals must be supervised by a lawyer who “maintains a direct relationship with the client and maintains control of all client matters.”

The following is an excerpt from the proposed of Florida's Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal initiative.

RULE 20-6.3 ADVANCED FLORIDA REGISTERED PARALEGAL

(a) An Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal may perform the following services when

assisting a limited representation client in matter involving an authorized area of law:

Selection, Completion, and Filing Forms.

1. An Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal may assist a limited representation client in selecting a form and assist a limited representation client in completing, filing and serving the form. This includes conducting intake to obtain relevant information from a limited representation client. The form must include the name, law firm, address and telephone number of the Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal who assisted in preparing the form. If other documents are necessary to the matter and ancillary to the form, an Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal may assist a limited representation client in obtaining, preparing, gathering, and organizing those documents, as well as filing and serving those documents.

2. Providing Information. When assisting a limited representation client with selecting

and completing a form an Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal may:

(A) give general information about how to complete the form;

(B) explain the form and supporting documents and provide information on how

to gather or find the documents;

(C) give general information about the anticipated course of the proceedings and

legal process, deadlines, documents that must be filed, and the applicable procedure for filing

and service;

(D) explain the other party’s documents;

(E) advise a limited representation client as to other documents that may be

necessary to the limited represented client’s case, and explain how such additional documents or pleadings may affect the limited represented client’s case;

(F) obtain relevant facts, and explain the relevancy of such information to a

limited representation client;

(G) explain how a court order affects a limited representation client’s rights and

obligations;

and

(H) provide general information about legal rights, procedures or legal options.

(b) Mandatory Disclosures. When an Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal provides

any of the services set forth in subdivision (a) of this rule, a limited representation client must

give informed consent to the provision of legal services by the Advanced Florida Registered

Paralegal in a written agreement that discloses the limited scope of services the Advanced

Florida Registered Paralegal may provide and meets any other requirement of rule 4-1.2(c). The agreement must be signed by the limited representation client, the Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal, and the supervising or employing lawyer. If the Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal knows or reasonably should know that a limited representation client requires services outside of those permitted by this rule, the Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal must advise the limited representation client to seek legal advice from a lawyer and may refer the limited representation client to the Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal’s supervising or employing lawyer.

       

(c) Prohibited Activities. When providing services pursuant to this rule, Advanced Florida Registered Paralegals may not hold themselves out as representing, speaking for, or advocating on behalf of a limited representation client and may not represent a limited representation client in court, in depositions, or in appeals. This prohibition includes addressing the court or judge as the representative of a limited representation client or on behalf of a limited representation client.
                                           
                                                                                                             

(d)Advertising. Advanced Florida Registered Paralegals may not independently advertise their services. A lawyer may advertise the availability of the Advanced Florida

Registered Paralegal and the services the Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal may provide in compliance with all rules regulating information about a lawyer’s services in subchapter 4-7.

(e) Limitation of Practice Areas. An Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal may only provide the services set forth in subdivision (a) of this rule in an authorized area of law. If a limited representation client has a legal issue outside of an authorized area of law, the Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal may not provide the services. However, nothing in this rule prevents an Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal from providing the services a Florida

Registered Paralegal may provide.

(f) Responsibilities of Employing or Supervising Lawyer. The employing or

supervising lawyer for an Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal remains professionally

responsible for all services provided on behalf of a limited representation client and assumes full professional responsibility for the work product, including any actions taken or not taken by the Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal in connection with the services. The services performed by the Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal supplement, merge with, and become the lawyer's work product.

COMMENT

Studies have shown that there is an unmet need in Florida for access to civil justice.

Litigants often cannot afford to hire a lawyer or do not know that their legal issue requires a lawyer. This rule addresses the access issue by authorizing Advanced Florida Registered Paralegals to provide services to a limited representation client while providing protection to the public through the Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal’s and lawyer’s ethical responsibilities.

This rule sets forth the services a Florida Registered Paralegal may provide and the

services an Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal may provide. A Florida Registered Paralegal

may provide services that do not require the exercise of independent professional judgment,

require direct oversight by the lawyer, and are performed for a client of the lawyer. In contrast,

in addition to the services that may be performed by a Florida Registered Paralegal, an Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal may also provide services that involve the limited exercise of independent professional judgment, do not require lawyer oversight, and are performed for a client who is provided limited representation. These services are not open-ended but are limited to the services set forth in this rule.

The Code of Ethics and Responsibility in this chapter and the Rules of Professional

Conduct set forth elsewhere in these rules apply and provide a level of protection that would not be present if the services were provided outside of the direction and supervision of a lawyer. The lawyer remains responsible for the Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal at all times and must make reasonable efforts to ensure that the Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal’s conduct is compatible with the professional obligations of the lawyer.

A level of protection is also provided by limiting the services to assistance with Supreme

Court Approved Forms and forms that have been prepared or are customarily used by the

Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal’s employing or supervising lawyer in the ordinary course of the lawyer’s practice. The services are also limited to certain authorized areas of law where limited representation is common and assistance is needed.

Protection is also provided by requiring the Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal to

disclose their status and scope of services in writing. The limited representation client will be

fully informed about the limitations at the beginning of the matter and can choose to hire the

lawyer instead. If it becomes apparent during the matter that a lawyer’s services are needed, the

Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal is required to advise the limited representation client to

seek the services of a lawyer.

This rule is silent on the fees the law firm may charge for the Advanced Florida

Registered Paralegal’s services. As noted in the purpose of this chapter, the rules do not create or change any legal requirements regarding charging or awarding fees for services performed by a nonlawyer. While the fees charged should be based on the Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal’s experience and services, they should not be the same as or exceed the fees charged by the lawyer--as that would do little to increase access to civil justice. Improper fee splitting is not implicated as the limited representation client is hiring an employee of a lawyer and fees would go to the lawyer with the Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal being compensated accordingly.

A client may choose full representation by a lawyer. As with any other representation,

the lawyer may delegate tasks to the Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal that are properly delegable, while maintaining responsibility for the representation. In that circumstance, although the Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal holds the title of Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal, the Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal is acting as any other paralegal in performing the delegated tasks.

Nothing in this chapter prevents an Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal from

providing services a Florida Registered Paralegal may provide. In other words, if the employing or supervising lawyer assigns a task that is outside the scope of the services set forth in subsection 20-6.3, but which may be performed by a Florida Registered Paralegal, the Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal may perform the services and provide the assistance to the lawyer.

RULE 20-7.2 ADVANCED FLORIDA REGISTERED PARALEGAL

An Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal must meet the continuing education

requirement for a Florida Registered Paralegal. At least 11 hours of the 33 hour minimum

requirement must include courses in an authorized area of law, litigation, or general civil law.

The courses in an authorized area of law, litigation, or general civil law must be courses

approved by The Florida Bar.

(e) Performance of Services. A Florida Registered Paralegal must act prudently in

determining the extent to which a client may be assisted without the presence of an attorney. A Florida Registered Paralegal may perform services for an attorney in the representation of a client, provided:

(1) the services performed by the paralegal do not require the exercise of independent

professional legal judgment;

(2) the attorney is responsible for the client, maintains a direct relationship with the

client, and maintains control of all client matters;

(3) the attorney supervises the paralegal;

(4) the attorney remains professionally responsible for all work on behalf of the client

and assumes full professional responsibility for the work product, including any actions taken or not taken by the paralegal in connection therewith; and

(5) the services performed supplement, merge with, and become the attorney's work

product.

20-2. DEFINITIONS

RULE 20-2.1 GENERALLY 

(l) Direction and supervision. Direction and supervision of:

(1) A paralegal or Florida Registered Paralegal means that the employing or supervising

lawyer directly supervises the work product of the paralegal or Florida Registered Paralegal.

(2) An Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal means that the employing or supervising

lawyer:

(A) ensures that the Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal is aware of the lawyer’s protocols for the performance of services authorized by rule 20-6.3; and

(B) provides guidance to the Advanced Florida Registered Paralegal relating to

the performance of services authorized by rule 20-6.3 upon request by the Advanced

Florida Registered Paralegal.

(o) Authorized Area of Law. An authorized area of law for an Advanced Florida

Registered Paralegal is family law, landlord tenant law, guardianship law, wills, advance

directives, or debt collection defense.

My questions and concerns:

Does this help or hinder consumers' access to justice?

Is this initiative even necessary?

Why did they single out those practice areas? [family law, landlord tenant law, guardianship law, wills, advance directives, or debt collection defense]. Why not all or nothing?

As always I appreciate your comments and insights.

Marketing & Sales, a symbiotic relationship

Marketing and sales are a pair of complex beasts, like ostriches and zebras. These wild animals enjoy a true symbiotic relationship – just like marketing and sales. Although each could survive on its own, they are both more powerful and safer together. Neither zebras nor ostriches are fast runners, at least not fast enough to avoid common predators, so they must always be on the alert for danger. Zebras have great eye sight, ostriches have a keen sense of smell, so they group together for mutual protection.

Sales and marketing can occur without the other, but survival is tenuous. There are few things more frustrating than to put time and effort into bringing your service to market, but not being able to make sales. A sale can happen out of the blue, but without knowing how to do it again, you're left happily scratching your head.

Never, never, never, underestimate the importance of the famous cliché – SELL BENEFITS NOT FEATURES. If you don't know what in the world that means, and you're in business – find out.

Here are a few things I discovered about marketing to men or women:

Are you marketing to women? Here are some psychological triggers or WHY a woman would buy from you, that you can use in your marketing to increase conversions:

• To belong or be relevant
• To be right or not wrong
• To fulfill one of the four basic needs: Relationship, wealth, happiness, spirituality
• To have security
• For memories or loyalty

If you want to make advertise to men in their 50’s, what emotional marketing strategies would you use?

If you said “scare them senseless,” you would be right. Marketing to men in their 50’s is best done by frightening them, because they feel so responsible for their families.

How about marketing to men in their 20/30’s?

You would use the emotional branding strategy of shaming them into buying your product. Peer-pressure is very strong with this group, and that can be used to really make your brand more than just a service or product.

As you can see, emotional branding can be used in just about every situation where you are marketing to men or women, so get out there and figure out what motivates your customers. But remember, if you’re not solving a problem or showing your audience “what’s in it for them” then you’re losing their interest straight away.

New laws 2020

Some new laws went into effect on January 1, 2020. It pays to stay abreast of these legal changes, as some may directly affect you.

• Officers started issuing tickets for the texting and driving law. This law went into effect July 1, but law enforcement had been using the first six months to issue warnings to drivers. The new law makes texting and driving a primary offense, which means you can now get pulled over for it.
• The minimum wage went up 10-cents starting January 1, 2020 in Florida. That means workers will make at least $8.56 an hour which is above the national minimum wage. The wage for servers and tipped based professionals will also increase by 10 cents, from $5.46 to $5.56. 
• For the first time, Floridians can execute wills online, and notaries can affix their seals and signatures to legal documents signed out of their presence, if they witness the signature via live, two-way video links. Third-party witnesses needed for wills and other documents may also appear remotely.
• County court jurisdictional thresholds increased to $30,000 on January 1, 2020, and to $50,000 on January 1, 2023.
• Small claims cases on January 1, 2020, will include cases up to $8,000
• Filers will be required to include a civil cover sheet specifying the dollar amount in dispute in cases exceeding $8,000 in value.
• Have your own business and been looking to have a store front? It's not much but taxes for a commercial leases dropped from 5.7% to 5.5% starting January 1.

Season's Greetings!

Best Wishes to you and yours this holiday season!

Why FALDP?

Why indeed. We've used a marketing piece for some time that explains the “what” of FALDP, among other statements, it says: “FALDP is an industry leader – empowering the people – and working everyday to make Florida a better place to live”. I believe those words are true, I fervently hope that we are, in fact, making Florida a better place to live.

But, why? Why did we form FALDP? Why is there a need for us? What is our reason to be? Our raison d'être ? The phrase, « find your why » has been bandied about of late, and has sunk from a catch phrase to a cliché by now. But, phrases become over used for a reason. Its because they resonate, hit a nerve, and yes, sometimes the last nerve.

The simple reason we exist is that people need us. People need document preparers. Not want, need. Our services are steadily in demand.

''You can't fight for your rights if you don't know what they are .'' Chief Justice John Roberts

''One of the primary reasons our nation’s founders envisioned a vast public education system was to prepare youth to be active participants in our system of self-government. The responsibilities of each citizen were assumed to go far beyond casting a vote; protecting the common good would require developing students’ critical thinking and debate skills, along with strong civic virtues/.''

BY AMANDA LITVINOV (3/2017)

Low knowledge of essential facts

The 2018 Annenberg civics knowledge survey, released for Constitution Day (Sept. 17), found that many people do not know how the branches of government work:

• A quarter (27 percent) incorrectly said the Constitution allows the president to ignore a Supreme Court ruling if the president believes the ruling is wrong;
• But a slim majority (55 percent) knows that a 5-4 Supreme Court decision is the law and must be followed, about the same as last year.

Annenberg Public PolicyCenter, (9/2018)

Why am I telling you this? And what does this have to do with FALDP? We're document preparers, we don't need to know about rights? Oh, really?

We can't give legal advice … but, the fact is that everybody gives everybody legal advice all the time.

• Don't drink and drive;
• Wear your seat belt;
• As an employer or landlord, you should not discriminate based on gender, race, or national origin. Its against the law;

According to the State ofTexas:

What is Legal Advice?

Court users are asking for legal advice when they ask whether or not they should proceed in a certain fashion. Telling a member of the public what to do rather than how to do it may be giving legal advice. Legal advice is a written or oral statement that:

 Interprets some aspect of the law, court rules, or court procedures;

 Recommends a specific course of conduct a person should take in an actual or potential legal proceeding; or

 Applies the law to the individual person’s specific factual circumstances.

What is Legal Information? Clerks and court personnel may:

 Provide public information contained in dockets, calendars, case files, indexes, and other reports.

 Recite common, routinely-employed court rules, court procedures, administrative practices, and local rules, and explain generally how the court and judges function.

 Refer self-represented litigants to a law library or the court’s website for statutes, court rules, or forms.

 Explain the meaning of terms and documents used in the court process.

 Answer questions concerning deadlines or due dates (without calculating due dates).

 Identify and refer self-represented litigants to court forms.

According to Find Law:

What Legal Advice Is

Advice from friends or family does not constitute legal advice. True legal advice forms an agreement between an attorney and his or her client based on a particular legal matter the client is experiencing.

In a nutshell, legal advice has the following characteristics:

• Requires legal knowledge, skill, education and judgment
• Applies specific law to a particular set of circumstances
• Affects someone's legal rights or responsibilities
• Creates rights and responsibilities in the advice-giver

Unlike legal information - such as information posted on a street sign - legal advice proposes a specific course of action a client should take. For instance, it's the difference between telling someone what to do (legal advice) as opposed to how to do it (legal information).

Examples:

• Selecting, drafting, or completing legal documents or agreements that affect the legal rights of a person
• Representing a person before a court or other governing body
• Negotiating legal rights or responsibilities on behalf of a person
• Speculating an outcome
• Selecting or filling out specific forms on behalf of a client

Specific legal advice questions may include:

• Should I file for bankruptcy?
• Does my disability qualify for federal assistance?
• What kind of recovery can I receive for my accident? injuries

What Legal Advice is Not

While legal advice is specific, direct, and proposes a course of action, legal information, on the other hand, is factual, generic, and does not address any one particular cause of action. To help avoid the confusion that often comes with legal information, websites and individuals will often go to great lengths to clarify that any information contained in their site should not be construed as legal advice nor form an attorney-client relationship.

Examples that do not constitute actual legal advice:

• Legal information obtained from free online legal websites, including a law firm or attorney's own website
• Advice from friends, family members, or former clients of a lawyer
• Information you hear on the radio
• Information you read on social media websites
• Information you see in news periodicals or on billboards
• Responses to legal questions posted in online Q&A boards, even if provided by a licensed attorney
• Printed materials listed in a "how to" guide
• Legal "self help" forms

Specific legal information questions might include:

• Where can I find the Federal Medical Leave Act?
• What does the acronym EEOC mean?
• What are the gun laws in my state?

Confused yet?

Yes. I think everyone is confused, including the courts. As an experienced document preparer I can point to many instances where a court clerk most certainly has told a pro se litigant what form to file. It happens all the time. So, as nonlawyers, the clerks of court, routinely select forms for pro se litigants, even though selecting forms for pro se litigants is a prohibited act.

And, do we ignore a customer's request for advice? Yes, but, the technique is to turn their request for advice into a request for information and then point them to the information. Is this word play -- semantics? Yes.

Think about these scenarios:

A customer comes to you and says that the landlord won't fix the leaking roof. And that customer asks you what he should do. Beware the “should” word. Telling someone what they should do might be giving legal advice. A better practice, particularly if you frequently prepare documents for landlord/ tenant issues, is to point him to a source of information, like Top 10 Landlord Legal Responsibilities in Florida , let the customer explore his options.

Another customer comes to you because she has been served a complaint for a past due credit card debt. She says that she knows she owes the debt, but it was years ago, and she thought the credit card company had written it off. It is helpful to know the following:

Florida’s statute of limitations varies for different types of debts. For written contracts such as personal loans, the statute of limitations is five years. So once this type of debt is more than five years past due, the lender can no longer sue in order to collect owed money. For other debts, the statute is shorter. Oral contracts and revolving accounts such as credit cards have a statute of limitations of four years.

https://www.debt.org/faqs/americans-in-debt/consumer-florida/

And point your customer to that information. However, that information isn't quite enough, because the pro se litigant must bring up the statute of limitations as an affirmative defense in their Answer. That information is in the Florida Statutes and can also be found here - https://blog.credit.com/2019/07/seven-ways-to-defend-a-debt-collection-lawsuit-62166/

In my experience, I've found that pro se litigants can figure out the basic substantive law. It is procedural law that stymies them. And, its my understanding that we can explain procedure providing we don't cross over the boundary between explaining procedure, into using procedure as strategy. We can explain what comes next, procedurally, as in: after the defendant/ respondent is properly served he has 20 days to file an answer. But, to tell a pro se defendant / respondent that instead of filing an answer, as long as he files something within 20 days, may be using procedure as strategy.

The reason FALDP exists is to help consumers and pro se litigants navigate the court system; and provide a hub for Florida document preparers. We're proud of what we do, mainly because we think we're helping make Florida a better place to live.

A Few Bad Apples ...

I'm the founder and director of the Florida Association of Legal Document Preparers [FALDP.ORG]. As such, I am 100% invested in the growth of the nonlawyer legal document preparation industry. I, personally, have been preparing legal documents since 1998. We exist because there is a demand for our services. People can't afford attorneys, people think that if they just had the correct forms,in the required format; and could decipher procedure that they would probably get through their legal matter on their own. Many times, most of the time, they're right.

Not to say there is no need for attorneys, and specifically not to say that our services replace attorney services. But, people often do not need and do not want legal advice or representation.

As a document preparer and as the director of FALDP I do my best to provide services within my limitations. I know the rules for the unauthorized practice of law [UPL] as well as anyone. I mean anyone. Document preparers who are being investigated for UPL frequently seek me out for my insights about their investigation. Members of FALDP are required to take a course annually, called Avoid UPL!. My hope is that member document preparers will learn the rules backwards and forwards and can thereby avoid an investigation.

We also suffer criticism of our livelihoods as legal document preparers. I received some hate mail the other day from a subscriber to my newsletter, a subscriber! He said - “All the document prepares in Florida need to be banned... Go to Law School if you want to give advice... bunch of lying bottom drellers” [sic]

But, this article isn't about UPL. I'm talking about those few bad apples today. The few bad apples that give us a bad name. The bad apples that spoil the barrel. In my opinion, we have enough push back from random critics, and the Florida Bar, who investigate us and seem to persecute us, without our colleagues making things worse.

Bad Apple #1: Another document preparer that I'm aware of is abusing the system in several creative ways. She is known to telephone the document preparer on the other side of a divorce case and try to negotiate a settlement for the Marital Settlement Agreement which might include money, property, and child custody. Document preparers may not negotiate on behalf of anyone else. She also falsifies or leaves out entire pages of information on financial affidavits which may be unfavorable to her customer. And, even worse, she's a Spanish speaker and frequently attends court hearings ostensibly as a court interpreter (although she is not certified), but she is actually at the court hearing to represent her customer. In Spanish. So the judge won't know.

Bad Apple #2: This bad apple is now in prison. But, before he got there, he had been a member of FALDP for a number of years. He had seemed fine for most of those years. Around 2014, I heard from a couple of his customers that he seemed to have a drinking problem and may have met with them while under the influence. And soon after, he began harassing a document preparer online and claiming that he had the full force of FALDP behind him. When I became aware of his harassment, I let him know that he most certainly did not have the full force of FALDP behind him in harassing anyone. He got mad at me and quit FALDP, saving me the trouble of terminating his membership. The harassment stopped after several months, and we thought it was a thing of the past. But, in 2016 his harassment toward the other document preparer started up again, and I noticed he was displaying the FALDP logo in his advertising and asked him to remove it. I then became a target for his harassment as well. He finally put himself in prison by going out in the street and threatening his neighbors with a firearm.

As a fledgling industry, each of us reflects on the other. We're criticized by lawyers as a matter of routine, that we are under trained wannabe lawyers. We're not. Most of us don't ever want to be a lawyer, and are more than happy to work well within our niche. We may seem untrained, but we're not that either. We're not allowed to give advice, so we don't. Sometimes, people may think that we're not advising our customers well. They're right. We're not advising them at all. We prepare documents, provide information, and explain procedure, but we do not provide legal advice or representation.

Support your Legal Document Preparers! Our services help so many people just like you.

Thinking of a “No Court Divorce in Florida”? – Think Again.

I've seen some nonlawyer document preparers marketing their services for a No Court Divorce. A No Court Divorce is possible when the divorcing parties agree on every facet of their divorce, including division of assets and debt; child support; and child custody. While a divorce in Florida is possible and even legal without either party ever appearing in court, it may not be the best idea. And here's why:

Most importantly, the lack of legal assistance and judicial oversight could lead to disastrous results. By definition, nonlawyer legal document preparers may not advise consumers [pro se litigants] about their specific legal rights or remedies; advise about legal strategies; or represent anyone in court. Pro se litigants may not be aware of rights they are giving away, and without a court hearing, their lack of knowledge could be reflected in the Final Order of Dissolution. Many of the nonlawyers preparing the forms for No Court Divorces, do not rely on mediators to ensure that the parties are in agreement. Rather the document preparer may act as the de facto mediator and is unlikely to be certified as a Florida Family Court Mediator.

One of the parties may be going along to get along, and believe that they have no choice.

The usual Florida divorce process is that one party, the Petitioner, prepares the required documents with the help of a document preparer, an attorney, or without help, and then serves the other party, who is called the Respondent. The Respondent has an opportunity to file an Answer and can agree or disagree with the documents prepared by the Petitioner. The No Court Divorce process requires that the parties are in full agreement on all issues.

I have prepared Florida divorce documents for pro se litigants for over twenty years. Very few of these divorces were completely without disputes. After all, if a couple were in complete agreement about everything, then they probably wouldn't need a divorce to begin with. When there are disputes, the court will refer the parties to a mediator to help them find a resolution.

Examine why its important to you to not appear in court.

Are you in the military and stationed overseas?

Even if you are the Petitioner in the divorce, you can request to appear telephonically. You make this request through a motion to the court.

Do you simply want to avoid the inconvenience?

If your reason for not wanting to appear in court is mostly due to convenience, you may need to consider your priorities. A divorce is a life changing event, not taking the time to attend the court hearing, and taking the chance that something goes wrong which could have been avoided is a chance that you should carefully consider.

Are there other legal issues that may come out? Outstanding warrants? A deportation order?

My first suggestion is that perhaps those issues need to be addressed prior to filing for divorce at all. But, if the divorce wasn't your idea, then you may not have that choice. However, only the Petitioner is generally required to appear in court anyway. The Respondent can waive his/ her appearance.

If your other issues are ongoing and cannot be easily resolved, you still have some choices. As the Respondent, you can waive your appearance or request to be heard telephonically. As the Petitioner, you can request to be heard telephonically, but that may or may not be allowed depending on your specific reason and the judge's discretion. Florida attorneys are specifically allowed under Florida Bar rules to offer limited services for family law. This is often called “unbundled services”, and can mean anything from a review of documents to an appearance at a court hearing.

I believe that some document preparers who aggressively market the No Court Divorce process prey on the fear of undocumented immigrants who are already afraid to appear in court. Florida family courts do not have jurisdiction over immigration matters. However, a deportation order or deportation of a parent would have an effect on the best interest of a child. So a divorce with children where one or both of the parents are undocumented, should be handled with extreme care and caution. A document preparer may not have the knowledge and expertise to know how to proceed. And, even if that document preparer has both knowledge and expertise is prohibited from offering legal advice. Parents in this situation need legal advice, not simply a way to avoid a court appearance.

An unintended consequence of a No Court Divorce can be that the divorce documents are filed in a distant Florida county. Not all Florida counties allow No Court Divorces, and it isn't necessary to reside in a certain county to file for divorce in that county. However, if there are subsequent proceedings, perhaps enforcement of child support or a modification of time-sharing, the parties would need to file these documents in the county where their divorce was filed, which may be where neither parent resides.

So, if you were thinking of filing a No Court Divorce – Think Again. You might be creating ongoing problems, by trying to avoid a court appearance.