If you’ve decided to get divorced, you’ve already made one big decision. Now, you have to make another decision—whether or not you want to hire a Miami divorce attorney. If you decide not to hire a divorce lawyer, you’ll be faced with representing yourself during your case. This might seem like the affordable way out as you won’t have to spend money on hiring a lawyer, but make no mistake, representing yourself during your divorce has its own set of unique challenges.

Why is hiring a Miami divorce attorney preferable to representing yourself? Let’s count the reasons.

• Preparing your own paperwork is hard—There’s a lot of paperwork that goes into getting divorced. The clerk requires certain forms to be filed in order for a case to be accepted, including a civil cover sheet, related cases statement, petition for dissolution of marriage and other documents that are required not by statute or Florida Supreme Court rule, but by local administrative rule or administrative order. Preparing these papers takes a lot of time, and they can be confusing. With an experienced Miami divorce attorney handling your case, you’ll have someone who can thoughtfully prepare and file all papers for you. This saves you time and makes the case much simpler for you.

• You’re too close to your case—Emotions are running high during any divorce, even a peaceful uncontested divorce in Florida. That’s okay, it comes with the territory. However, since you’re part of the emotional whirlwind of your divorce, you’re not in the best position to handle your own case. You’re too close to it to make rational decisions. With an experienced Miami divorce attorney on your side, you’ll have someone representing you who can make unbiased decisions that are based on sound reasoning rather than fleeting emotional impulses.

• Mistakes could cause your case to get rejected—Remember what we said about all of the paperwork that goes into filing for a divorce? Well, if you make any mistakes in preparing or filing these papers, the clerk could decide to reject your case. This doesn’t mean that you can’t get divorced, it just means that you basically have to start all over. You have to refile your papers and pay the fees for doing so once again. It’s time-consuming and costly. With an experienced divorce lawyer, you won’t have to worry about mistakes. Your case will get filed properly so you can move forward as quickly as possible.

• You don’t know the law—Let’s face it—you’re not a lawyer. Lawyers go to school for years and practice law on a daily basis. They know all of the Florida family laws involving divorce cases, you don’t. Their expertise and insight is a valuable asset that can help ensure you get the best possible outcome to your case.

There are a lot of good reasons to hire an experienced Miami divorce attorney. So if you’re thinking about representing yourself, take a step back and consider the challenges of doing so.