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Representing Yourself

Pro Se is a Latin phrase meaning “for oneself. Pro Se legal representation refers to the instance of a person representing him or herself without being represented by a lawyer. A Pro Se, can be a defendant (the person against whom a charge is brought) or a plaintiff (the party that institutes a lawsuit in the court) regardless of whether the matter is civil or criminal.

Legal procedures are different for each state, yet similar. Every state has court rules that have to be followed and the attorneys must do the same. In other words, certain forms have to be submitted within a certain time. If your dispute leads to a court appearance, you have some choices to make that will take you time and/or money.

Those choices are:

  1. You hire a lawyer to represent you. To some people, money is no problem and they get an attorney to take care of it and pay them to do the work for them.
  2. You plead guilty, pay the disputed charges, the court cost and attorney fees.
  3. You don’t know what to do or the bill is not yours — but you have no idea on what to do so you plead guilty. Thisis the worsst thing to do. But ONLY IF the bill is not yours, or the balance is not correct, the bill has been paid, or it is a old “zombie” bill and you are dealing with a 3rd party debt collecting company.
  4. You represent yourself as Pro Se and you take the case on yourself.

I represneted myself as Pro Se. I got sued by a 3rd party collection company who bought an old account that was paid years ago. They said it wasn’t and I got sued. After getting several harassing phone calls, including some verabal threats, which are in direct violation of Federal Laws; I decided I had enough from this company and decided to fight back —- in court, which I did, and won—Was it easy? NO. But, it can be done!

If you decide to go to court as ProSe as I did, you need to learn the court rules of your state in the court library. Or do as I did. Go to this site and learn! The website is called Jurisdictionary and if you go to court as ProSe, you need this. I got it and won!


Inside Representing Yourself