In a perfect world, all clients would be able to secure a divorce attorney’s legal representation.  There are circumstances, however, when a client cannot afford to hire a lawyer even though they need one.  There are no court-appointed attorneys for spouses in a divorce as there are in criminal cases.
Some clients can afford to hire an attorney, however they choose to save money and act as their own attorney.  This can be an enormous mistake. Once a Judgment is entered, there are very limited circumstances under which it can be set aside and motions to do so are rarely granted.
The primary disadvantages of self-representation are that, if the opposing party has retained an attorney for representation during the divorce proceedings, the self-representing party is required to deal with the opposing party’s attorney. The attorney knows information about the divorce process that the lay person may not know.  Second, attorneys are knowledgeable about courtroom procedures and lay people generally are not.  It may be very difficult for a party to enter a courtroom and represent himself or herself before a judge.  Third, if the party opts to represent themselves, they may be harboring a lot of anger, sadness, or may be in a fragile emotional state and may not be able to effectively do so.  Fourth, if significant discovery is required during the divorce proceedings, the self-representing party may have a difficult time complying with the discovery requests and may not know of all of the potential discovery tactics.  Last, the self-representing party may not be aware of all of the tactics used in divorce proceedings with respect to, among other things, dividing property and debts.  Although the court has an obligation to ensure that any type of divorce settlement is fair and equitable, the court is not only looking out for the self-representing person, they are also looking out for the opposing party, whether represented or not.