In dialogue with the increasing trend of self-represented litigants, the purposes of this paper are: to review recent data regarding the participation of SRL’s in the court system (both from the perspective of lawyers and court workers); to assist the family law lawyer in understanding the different issues which may arise when dealing with the SRL; and to suggest various strategies to more effectively deal with the different types of SRL’s (with a view of decreasing time, aggravation, and expense).

This paper was presented at the 46th Annual Family Law Refresher in April of 2013.