West Palm Beach Appeals Court Reverses Trial Court for being too Harsh on Pro-Se Husband

If you are litigating a matter in West Palm Beach without a lawyer you may  be facing an uphill battle. You may not know exactly what to call a motion in your will contest but that does not mean you do not know what you want the Court to do. In West Palm Beach Courts emphasize function over form in pro-se motions. You may want to check out this recent case out of the Third District Court of Appeals before you file your motions pro-se.

Function Over Form

• In Court sometimes motions have funny even Latin names that a pro-se litigant just does not know.
• Do you know what a motion in limine is?
• Exactly.
• Luckily Courts are wary of issues with pro-se litigants and take a less rigid approach.
• This is known as emphasizing function over form.
• The Court is going to spend less time on what you call the motion and more on what you intent to move the court to do.
• This by no means eliminates the advantage of hiring an experienced Palm Beach probate litigator, but it lightens the load.
• In fact that does not mean the Court will be able to know exactly what you are saying.
• Attorneys spend years learning how to communicate ideas effectively to the Courts in West Palm Beach.
• Want to see a case where the court was too strict on a pro-se litigant?
• Check out this recent case out of the Third District Court of Appeals.

Suarez v. Orta

• This was an appeal from a pro-se litigant in a marriage dissolution (divorce) case from Miami-Dade County.
• The father had objected to certain findings from a hearing officer who reports findings to the family judge.
• The Court denied the objection based on it being improperly labeled under an incorrect rule of procedure.
• On appeal the Third District Court of Appeals noted that this was not the proper way to treat a pro-se motion.
• Courts in West Palm Beach read pro-se motions based on their form over function.
• What you call it is not as important as what is in it.
• What is the easiest way to avoid this predicament?
• Leave the law to the experienced Palm Beach attorneys who know what to call these things.

Want to learn more about succeeding as a pro-se litigant in West Palm Beach?

Check out the entire case by clicking here.