LRI: Pro Se: Projects

L egal Aid of East Tennessee (LAET) has developed a self-help divorce clinic program throughout its service area. The model for the program is drawn from a successful divorce clinic administered by the Northern region of the program for the past 10 years. The model provides a clinic setting for individuals wishing to file their own divorce without a lawyer. Initially the clinic was only for persons with no children and no property issues. Thanks to the generous support of the Administrative Office of the Courts through a grant to increase access and visitation for non-custodial parents, LAET has been able to expand the clinic to include divorcing parents with children and also to expand the project to every region of LAET.

During the course of a self help clinic participants are provided with a complete packet of divorce forms that includes everything needed to finalize a divorce from the summons and complaint to the final decree as well as a script of what to say in court. Attorneys direct clinic participants in how to complete each of the forms, how to engage in each step of the divorce process and how to finalize the divorce.

For parents with children, it is expected that the parents will reach an agreed parenting plan before they file for the divorce. For many people this is not possible without help. As part of the clinic model LAET is incorporating a pro bono mediation component where Family Law listed mediators will help pro se litigants mediate an agreed parenting plan. This is a unique component to the project and one that is gaining attention both within Tennessee and on a national level.

A key to the success of the self-help clinic program have been the partners who have collaborated with LAET. Chief among them has been the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts, the primary funder of the project. Local judges, court clerks and bar associations have also played a critical role in the implementation of the project. LAET has learned that in order to start new and innovative programs in a legal community it is vital to have the buy-in of all interested members of that community on the front end. LAET has been very careful to not alienate any group in the process of developing new and untraditional ways to deliver legal services. Another collaboration of which LAET is very proud is between the Tennessee Bar Association's (TBA) Access to Justice Committee (ATJ), Alternative Dispute Resolution Section (ADR) and LAET. The TBA ATJ committee and ADR section came together to develop the idea that mediators should be doing more to help low-income people access ADR services. LAET proposed to the group that its pro se divorce clinic was an outstanding venue to incorporate a pro bono mediation component. As a result, the mediation component discussed in the paragraph above will be endorsed by the TBA as a pilot project in Tennessee to encourage mediator support of the self-help divorce process.

The development and expansion of the self help divorce clinic program grew from the inability of LAET to meet the overwhelming demand for divorces by the low-income community in East Tennessee and the frustration of staff having to say no to so many deserving people. This project has allowed LAET to meet a great client need while expending a limited amount of scarce resources. As legal aid programs look at new and innovative ways to meet client needs the LAET self-help divorce clinic project will serve as a model for a way to deliver high quality legal assistance with limited resources.

Contact Information:

Deborah Yeomans
Legal Aid of East Tennessee
502 South Gay Street, Suite 404
Knoxville, TN 37902-1502
Phone: (865) 637-0484
Fax: (865)525-1162
Email Email

Additional Information: