DIY divorces highlight need for family law attorneys, especially in rural areas

For some rural residents, finding a law––yer to handle divorces and other family law cases has become challenging, so many have tried representing themselves in court.

Fountain County Circuit Court Judge Stephanie Campbell said divorces there are among the most common pro se cases because online forms to start the process are available and attorneys can be expensive and scarce.

“It’s not as easy in a small community to afford or get an attorney to have time to represent you,” she said.

As Indiana grapples with an attorney shortage in many parts of the state, experts point to family law in rural areas as a particular challenge. They say it’s hard to sustain a practice in that legal specialty, and it has become tough to draw younger attorneys into rural areas to replace those who are retiring. That leaves people heading to court tempted to go pro se, which brings its own challenges.

There is little formal data about the number of family law attorneys — across the state or in rural areas — and whether there’s a shortage of them.

And statewide, the number of divorce cases in which at least one party self-represented in court stayed pretty consistent from 2018 to 2024, the latest year for which data is available.

In 2019, which saw the highest number, 18,259 cases had at least one pro se party. In 2024, that number was 15,779.

While the number of pro se litigants in domestic relations cases statewide has not risen sharply, judges in rural areas say they’re seeing that scenario play out more often.

In some areas, that’s because there just aren’t enough attorneys practicing that specialty.

Indiana ranks 43rd in the nation in lawyers per capita. The state has about 2.26 lawyers per 1,000 residents, or 15,485 attorneys for nearly 7 million residents, according to 2024 data from the American Bar Association.

Nearly half of Indiana counties are considered legal deserts, meaning there is fewer than 1 attorney per 1,000 residents, according to the Indiana’s Office of Judicial Administration, the state Supreme Court’s administrative arm.

The challenge of family law

Nine of the 10 Indiana counties with the highest rates of domestic case filings (primarily divorce and legal separation proceedings) were legal deserts, according to an analysis by the Indiana Lawyer of caseload statistics by the Indiana Judicial Branch and Census population data.

And four of the 10 counties with the highest rates of family law case filings (including divorces as well as paternity, adoption, reciprocal support and grandparent visitation cases) are legal deserts.

A lack of revenue is a key reason why family law is often one of the first legal services to disappear from a rural area, said Mary Hutchison, an attorney with the Indianapolis Legal Aid Society’s rural program.

“There’s no money in it,” she said. “You’re not going to get damages. It’s not against a company that has money. It’s generally two individuals that don’t have money.”

That poses a problem for rural firms that do a lot of family work.

Family law is an area in which a firm’s livelihood depends on generating billable hours, which is difficult in impoverished areas, said David Sneden, business development partner for the Indianapolis Legal Aid Society.

“That part of the profession is gone from these rural towns,” he explained. “A lot of it is the economics and scale. Here in Marion County, for example, you can run a small solo or even midsize family law firm where you’re charging a couple hundred bucks an hour. … I think it was $375 (an hour) when I last looked.”

“You have to have the volume to be able to do this on a consistent basis,” Sneden said.

He noted that many rural areas had general practitioners who did a little bit of everything. Those practitioners relied heavily on businesses like banks for the billable hours needed to sustain their firm.

“When they lost that bank, when they lost those kinds of stable business clients, then you also lost that town’s last family law practitioner,” Sneden said.

Are there enough attorneys?

Scott County Superior Court Judge Marsha Owens Howser said that, in her county, affordability is a key reason residents choose to represent themselves in family law matters. Howser noted that Scott County, which the Indiana Judicial Branch lists as a legal desert, has around 20 attorneys who can handle those cases, but they often aren’t being hired to do so.

“I’m always referring people to legal aid or giving them an opportunity to continue a case to try and get an attorney,” she said. “They are often choosing to not have an attorney.”

In Fountain County, however, Campbell called rural family law attorneys a “thing of the past.” She said she is grateful that her county, which is not listed as a legal desert, still has a few attorneys who can handle criminal, estate planning and family law cases.

“A small town attorney needs to be able to do those three things to make their practice successful, to get clients to walk through the door,” she said.

Campbell said a number of those attorneys are nearing retirement, and younger attorneys aren’t eager to fill the vacancies.

“Young people, as they pass the bar and start a practice, are more drawn to the urban areas,” she said.

Campbell said because there aren’t enough attorneys practicing law there, courts are having to accommodate out-of-county counsel, which has meant more remote hearings, more continuances and more flexible scheduling of court dates.

Campbell worries Fountain County will become a legal desert soon as more of its attorneys retire. She noted some surrounding counties are down to two practicing attorneys.

“I’m one step away from it,” she said. “Any day in the matter of a year, you could find yourself with nobody but those two attorneys.”

Bringing new lawyers to rural areas

While a lot of young lawyers may not be settling in rural areas, Jacob Spurr is an exception. Spurr, who was recently admitted to the practice of law in Indiana, will head to Vigo County to join his father, Jon, at Spurr Law Offices. Spurr’s areas of practice include estate planning, wills, trusts, divorce, child support and paternity.

“We practice in Vermillion, Parke, Clay, Vigo, Sullivan, as far north as Warren County, we practice in all the small counties around there,” the son said.

Vermillion, Parke, Clay, Sullivan and Warren counties are all considered legal deserts.

Spurr is a 2026 graduate of the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law who took part in the school’s Rural Justice Initiative, a program that connects law students with internships in rural areas.

Spurr was paired with Vermillion County Circuit Court Judge Chris Wrede for his internship, giving him a glimpse into what it’s like to practice law in a rural area. He found family law cases to be the most intriguing.

“All of the cases on paper had pretty much the same issue. But then you actually get into the courtroom, and you listen to people speak,” he said. “All the cases, even though it would be over the same issue, the facts would be wildly different every time as to why people were in the courtroom that day.”

He encouraged young lawyers to give rural areas a try, saying they would be exposed to many areas of law, including family law. That would give them the opportunity to figure out which specialty fits best.

Family law involves emotional aspects of people’s lives, including marriages and children. Spurr said lawyers in that field must learn to distance themselves from their clients’ emotions.

“I don’t know If I’m going to be able to (distance myself) or not. That’s going to be a learning thing with it,” he said. “I like to think that I’m level-headed.”

The perils of self-representation

Some clients think hiring counsel is too expensive or unavailable, so they decide to be their own lawyer.

Those who represent themselves will be treated like attorneys during court proceedings, which can be problematic without proper training.

“When they come into court and have to follow court procedure, attorneys know ‘OK, we’re having a hearing, you call a witness,’” Wrede, the Vermillion County Circuit Court judge, said. “I had one (pro se litigant) the other day say, ‘Well, I’ve never done this before. I don’t know what to do.’ It really causes issues in getting those cases done.”

Campbell of Fountain County said she currently sets more pretrial conferences than in previous years to make sure both parties know what they’re getting into.

“‘Hey, you’re trying to get a divorce hearing, and you don’t have any child support set in here or you’re just going to agree on it,’” she recalled telling pro se divorcees. “Well, make sure you understand that when you agree on something, you can’t turn around and undo it.’”

Carmel resident Mike Estridge regrets representing himself in his divorce case a few years ago. He said the final settlement in his divorce would have been more equitable if he had an attorney like his former spouse did.

“You can go pro se (self-represented) up to an extent,” he said.

Earlier this year, the Estridge spoke with The Indiana Lawyer about Parency and ParencyLegal, two apps created by his company, Parency, to help with communication and documentation in family law matters.

He said divorces are highly emotional, especially with children involved. A lawyer could act as a voice of reason.

“When you’re in conflict, especially when with kids, there’s going to be high levels of back and forth,” Estridge said. “When something comes in, an attorney can say, ‘Hey, here’s how I would respond to this. Instead of turning this into an argument, you can say this.’

“Those attorneys can say, ‘Look, don’t freak out about this.’”

In Scott County, about 77 domestic relations cases, which include divorces, were pro se in 2024, according to data from Indiana’s Office of Judicial Administration. Howser said pro se litigation comes with more hearings than would be necessary if an attorney was present.

“A lot of people will try to waive their final divorce hearing and just do it by submitting a settlement agreement and decree to be signed by the judge that divorces them, which is routinely done if there’s counsel involved,” she said. “I’d say the pro se filings, maybe 60% to 70% of the time, they’re not correctly filed. I have to set them for a hearing.”

Howser, who has been on the bench since 2011, said she regularly stresses to pro se litigants the importance of having an attorney. She said it’s like having a doctor present to mend a wound.

“I think they often will come to our window or talk to staff or come into the courtroom and think you’re going to present them with everything they need to do,” she said. “A doctor wouldn’t just hand you the stitches and equipment and tell you to ‘go at it.’”•