“If you don’t know the law, it seems all-powerful. If you are dealing with bad attorneys, they also like to puff themselves up as small gods. Because who are you to question them? I personally hate that mentality, we’re people, good and bad just like anyone.”—Elizabeth (Family Law Attorney)
While this is not meant to be a lengthy post although this is certainly not the last you’ll hear from me on this subject to be sure.
No matter what, no matter how bad it can seem, the question to ask, often when it’s hardest is “What CAN I do?” There is always something. And the best low-hanging fruit starts with us. What are we doing to better regulate our emotions? No matter what happens on the outside, even if a magic genie could grant kids back with us, if we don’t shift how we run ourselves it won’t matter in the long run. Why? Because the same person who got here will still be here. If you look up lottery winners you’ll see that most lost everything in a relatively short period of time, for the same reason.
One of the things we can do is get more information on what the situation is rather than how some attorney depicts it. It is almost certainly your ex’s and even yours if unwittingly they don’t know how to properly navigate what’s happening.
The first place to start, while regulating ourselves more effectively (start here) is to understand there are many systems in place to rein in lawyers who are misbehaving. Since most people don’t know this they assume they have to take the sh*t they get because it’s supposedly a “corrupt” system. Good luck changing that in one day. HOWEVER, you can do things to start naming what is happening. You can, if you have the right information cause a lot of “trouble”.
FOR EXAMPLE: DID YOU KNOW Lawyers cannot bring claims that do not have a reasonable basis in fact.
Then they may in violation of the American Bar Association Code of Ethical Conduct.
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/rule_3_1_meritorious_claims_contentions/
You can fight with grievances and motions for sanctions. As someone who knows two lawyers who were targeted and lost their licenses for one and two years respectively, these grievances can have real teeth. No matter what it is also a signal that you aren’t going to just go along with what they are doing. Lawyers are not gods. They simply know re than you might and know-how to utilize their knowledge.
So…anyone can use that knowledge, even us who are unrepresented as well
