Again, you are providing half arsed advice to the OP. You are yet to provide substantiating points to back up your stance as to why everyone should "use a lawyer", considering only you know your case better than anyone else. I will ask you, do you have your kids 50-50 or better yet have sole custody? If not, then you just wasted 50k on nothing
Some of us have always been more involved in our kid's lives, which has helped make our case. Anyone that delegates upbringing of their kids to the other parent, can't then say they want them on equal footing, when you don't even know the teachers name, or who their friends are.
Child support is a given, and you don't need a lawyer or Judge to tell you that...if you don't want to pay it, then you should have kept your knob in your pants. My point again, I'll hope that anyone in the CAF is able to read and write, and based on this should be able to read documents, and state facts and back them up to present to the other party and a Judge...why on earth is a lawyer needed for this? There are tons of case precedents on CanLii to use to back up your stance, and this is what lawyers do to argue their case.
Again.....
- I got 50-50
- I kept my pension
- am paying CS based on 50-50
- ex is not on my benefits
- no alimony / spousal support is paid
- I spend more on my kid when with me
- take kid to activities (3) during the week
- take kid overseas
- school, doctor, dentist, friends of kid all know me
I did not need a lawyer to get all this. As mentioned before, I know a lot of men that have gone this route, and we all talk about our love for our kids and how we will do it all over again because it was worth it! Now I know people that have used lawyers, and still ended up losing and now depressed. I work with 2 people like this.
As for cost...you are wrong, you can expect a lawyer for the winning party / self rep to ask for costs. It is mentioned in every document served...if you did you actually worked on the documents that was served, then you will know this, as there is a box to be ticked. It is usually a tactic to try and get the other party to cave in.
The "over 50k" you spent, could have been put in RESPs for your kids education. Ironic isn't it considering you talk about "making sure your kids are looked after"
The Anti-Royal said:
I paid well over 50K for my divorce. It was worth every penny to ensure that my rights were protected, that I was secure in the knowledge that my children would be well taken-care of, and that I'd saved money in the long run.
In addition, costs are usually only awarded if the other party is being an absolute a**hat.