More Albertans skip lawyer, represent self in court

A survey of 73 lawyers in Alberta is reporting an increase in the number of people choosing to represent themselves in family courtcompared to five years ago.

The report was prepared by theCanadian Research Institute for Law and the Family.

"I'm out of money so I couldn't afford it any more. It's either lose my house and my car and declare bankruptcy," says Paul Hamilton who has fired his lawyer and is handling the hearings into spousal support himself.

Court officers say self-representation is one of the reasons for a backlog in family court hearings.

"The court system is totally jammed up," says Deb Miller from Legal Aid Alberta.

Miller says it is a difficult system to navigate.

"We're finding that when there's a self-represented person on the other side, it's harder to make an early settlement of issues because they're not getting legal advice."

Alberta's high divorce rate could also be contributing to the increase in self-representation, says Miller.