Help please !!!

[plainNamedDad44]

Here is the situation,

stbx's lawyer was preparing a letter of direction to split assets. She messed it up several times. I pointed to the fact that she failed to exercise a sufficient "duty of care", and to negligence and I threatened to claim damages.

stbx's lawyer quits!! Leaving stbx self represented. I have always been self reping.

There is a non - contact order in place, whereby I can only contact her by way of counsel. But now at this point she is self reping until she gets another lawyer.

How do/can I communicate with stbx now ? Am I breaching order if she is self reping ? I am assuming yes, but that leaves me with no way of communicating for other matters.

Please help.

[ByMyself]

Is the non-contact order in the form of an undertaking you signed with police? If so, deal with the detective on your case, in writing, explaining your situation and the need to keep family proceedings moving. They will likely allow the written communication, as long as it is not direct attempts to interact with the other party- and rather you are solely serving papers. Be absolutely sure to get this in writing, as the consequences for a breach in criminal court are severe compared to family court.

To the best of my knowledge, stbx's lawyer needs approval of court to be removed. (But I could be wrong - my experience is that I have been notified by my ex's lawyers every time they removed themselves from proceedings.) If you haven't officially received that notice, they are still on record, and you keep serving the lawyer until you have the paperwork that says otherwise.

If you have a family court order that dictates the non- contact, file a motion to have your existing order modified, adding "with the exception of documents relating to these proceedings", or something like that. In terms of serving this motion, the position can be argued that the stbx is receiving a copy of a document addressed to the court, not them, that informs them of proceedings. If you are extra concerned, have a third party serve/ mail them on your behalf, being careful to remain within the guidelines of the Family Law Act for service.

Hope this helps!