NANCY HICKS / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Monday, October 11, 2004 7:00 pm
People who want to get a divorce without an attorney now can use forms developed by Nebraska judges and attorneys and available at local courthouses or online.
The forms and instructions are intended to help people who can't afford attorneys and have simple divorces without children and without much significant property.
But not everyone thinks the forms are a good idea. In January, the state bar association went on record opposing the idea.
Divorce attorneys across the state believe "there is no such thing as a simple divorce," said John P. Grant of Omaha, president of the Nebraska Bar Association. "And I think they felt it was wrong to encourage shortcuts where someone's legal rights were involved."
But more and more people are trying to represent themselves in court, and one of the most common areas is divorce, Appeals Court Judge Richard Sievers said.
The forms address that growing need, said Sievers, chairman of a Nebraska Supreme Court committee studying pro se litigation, or cases where people do not use an attorney and try to represent themselves. That committee designed the new Nebraska-specific forms.
People can get generic divorce forms in other places Internet sites, office supply stores. But not all of them can be used in Nebraska because divorce laws differ from state to state.
The Nebraska forms include a simple, step-by-step explanation of how to get a divorce here, including the residency requirements, how to serve the paperwork to the other person, the time line, the fees required to file documents and how to get those fees dropped if you are poor.
"They are customized to fit a simple divorce in Nebraska," Sievers said.
"The underlying message of the committee and the court was if you have children or property of consequence, you should get an attorney," Sievers said.
The forms, available since Oct. 1, offer standardization across the state. "With these forms, a person should be able to go into any of these courts and have their paperwork pass muster with any judge," he said.
The forms are available at clerk of the district court offices or on the Supreme Court Web site.
Nebraska joins a number of other states that provide forms for simple divorces, Sievers said. In fact, it is fairly common for forms to be available, perhaps from an individual court, or the state bar association, or the state Supreme Court.
The new forms certainly will increase people's access to the legal system. And that does benefit low-income clients, said Roberta Stick, with Nebraska Legal Services.
Legal aid is not able to represent everyone who wants a divorce and qualifies by income standards. Plus, there are a number of families that aren't poor enough to qualify for legal aid but that also cannot afford attorneys. "Hopefully, the availability of these forms will give them access to the system," she said.
Attorneys who participated in the bar association debate also were concerned that offering forms would not be enough. Some other states have someone you can contact or some system so that people can get answers to questions about the forms or the process, Grant said.
Bar members also were afraid that the system would be abused. "These are designed for simple divorces, little or no assets and no children. But they are out there publicly, and someone with a more complicated divorce may take those forms and try to adapt them to their situation."
Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.