Thrive & Decide Guide to Divorce and Beyond

Finding Legal Help When You Can’t Afford It

• Sarah Thress • Season 2 • Episode 7

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If your spouse controls the money, it can feel like divorce is out of reach. We brought in family law specialist Tara Price to chart a realistic path for starting strong, even with zero income. From brief legal clinics to fee waivers, this conversation focuses on action steps that protect your rights without sinking your savings.

We talk through why many firms now charge for consults and how to fund that first crucial meeting—using joint accounts carefully, opening a small personal credit line before separation, and understanding when a court might order the other party to contribute to your fees. Tara shares the most reliable low-cost help in Ohio: the Legal Aid Society of Central Ohio, the Justice Mobile’s rotating clinics at libraries and food pantries, and county-based offerings like the Hope Center and Andrew’s House, often supported by the statewide Justice Bus. These clinics can answer targeted questions, print and prep forms, and point you to the right next step—whether you’re filing, responding, or seeking temporary orders.

We also dig into the nuts and bolts of filing correctly. Ohio’s statewide pro se family law forms are accepted everywhere, but each county adds local rules and extra documents that can make or break your case. Courthouse self-help centers can’t provide legal advice, yet they will guide you through the forms, computers, and procedures to get your case on track. For specialized issues—immigration, appeals, or protection orders—Tara explains how to find the right referrals, including the Ohio Domestic Violence Network’s legal resources. And don’t overlook law school clinics staffed by supervised students; they’re thorough, motivated, and often free or low cost.

If you’re stuck at the starting line, this episode gives you a map: where to go, what to ask, which forms to use, and how to keep costs under control. Subscribe, share with someone who needs a way forward, and leave a review telling us which resource helped you take your first step.

Resources mentioned in the podcast

Hi and welcome to Thrive and Decide. I’m your host Sarah Thress. This podcast is intended to help women who are going through a divorce, continplating divorce or have lost a spouse feel seen, heard, understood and not alone. All the beautiful souls who share on here are coming from a place of vulnerability and a common belief that sharing your story will help others. You will also hear from industry experts on what to do and not do while going through a divorce.


Sarah Thress
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SPEAKER_00

Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of Thrive and Decide Guide to Divorce. We have a local attorney, Tara Price, on today. And she has specialized in family law her whole career and is an Ohio State Bar Association certified specialist in family law. What I love is that she takes pride in her ability to settle cases before they have to go to court and be super costly. So I love that about her. So Tara, thank you so much for uh taking time out to come talk to us today.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. It's always a pleasure to um when we get to chat and catch up and kind of just feels like um easy conversations with you. So I enjoy doing this.

The Cost Barrier To Legal Help

SPEAKER_00

Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. Um I feel the same. So today I would love for you to talk about um the legal aid and some of those, you know, some of the things that people have available out there that they don't know about because I have a lot of women uh that come to me that, you know, maybe they're stay-at-home moms, you know, so they've never worked outside of the home or, you know, they don't have access to the funds, even if they do work, you know, the husband handles everything and they have no access to anything. Um, so I would love for you to just kind of go over, you know, I found it fascinating when we talked the last time you were telling me about, you know, some legal aid stuff you were doing. Um so I'd love for you just to kind of uh, you know, help people to understand like what resources are out there and and how to access them.

Using Joint Funds Or Credit For Consults

Will A Judge Order Attorney Fees

Tara’s Public Resource List

Legal Aid Society Of Central Ohio

The Justice Mobile Clinics

Courthouse Self-Help Centers

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, absolutely. I I've been finding um on a lot of like the different um mom groups that I'm in on Facebook and just in general, like, you know, your local groups of whatever city and you know, connection um you have there. I just see a lot of people posting, you know, looking for, you know, obviously a divorce attorney, um, a custody attorney. So some of this might be geared, I might say, like, you know, a divorce, um, you know, in that situation, but it might be an unmarried parents case where it's just custody or child support issue too. But I see a lot of people posting asking for attorneys on there. And then um there's also a good amount of people that are on there that are like, I'm a stay-at home mom. I either, you know, I have funds, but like I don't have access to them yet, or you know, maybe they just don't have any funds, you know, they're just low income and they just can't make it work. Um, and so they're often asking, and and it used to be, um, in my opinion, um, back, you know, 12 years ago when I started this, being an attorney, um, a lot of the consultations were free indeed. But unfortunately, it seemed like a lot of um people would actually take that as an opportunity to go in what we call conflict out other attorneys. And so they would go to all the attorneys that are named so that their spouse couldn't then go and consult with that attorney. And so what that did was that caused all of us attorneys to kind of band together and to start to charge for our consultations, which it has unfortunately impacted lower income and and primarily stay-at-home moms, um, maybe stay-at-home dads too. But um, that's really what I've felt um in my career a change over. And so when we start charging for consultations, that might limit who is able to um, you know, come in and do those and get some advice, even if they weren't gonna hire us, you know, if it was free advice, at least they were getting some help to get started. And so um they might feel a little bit more empowered, you know, in their decisions and knowing what their options are, for example. Um, so the first thing that um I see is that. And then second, um, a lot of people are like, well, if I don't have the funds, but it's in a joint account, can I use it? You know, how does that work? Um, and so I always say, you know, if it's in a joint account and in your name, if you're comfortable, meaning, you know, they understand that you're gonna be taking out, you know, X amount of dollars. If it's just for you know a legal consultation, it's gonna be a couple hundred dollars, probably not, you know, a retainer fee of thousands of dollars. But if there's um some, you know, way that you're using a card, it's gonna show up as an attorney, just be aware that there's, you know, gonna be some um, if it's not cash taken out, it's gonna be on that card that he's he or she's gonna know about. Um, so just being aware of that. But if it's in a joint account, that's you know, a possibility as well. Um, and then sometimes people put it on a credit card. So um they sometimes will get approved before they separate. So that way, you know, if there's a joint credit card or something, um, even if it's just in your name, um, you're able to get approved for a small amount. Um, that way it's you know, quote unquote hidden from the other spouse in terms of like you consulting and them knowing about that happening right at that point in time. Um, that's possible. Um, most attorneys do charge um, you know, fees for credit card use or debit card use, but that that's one way to do it. And then trying to figure out later on the back end how are we going to pay that. Um, not to say you should run up a huge bill, but that's you know what what some people have to do to at least get started to get to know, okay, what do I do now? Um, and then I will also see on those posts a lot of people saying, well, you can get him to pay your attorney fees, or you know, can I get him to pay my attorney fees? And how does that work? Um, and you know, I can't speak for every court or, you know, whatever, but I would say in general, there is, you know, a possibility that one party could have to pay the other party's attorney fees. However, it's not a given, it's not gonna happen every time. And there are different factors that are gonna play into that, including what their incomes are, right? Um, and some courts will do it, you know, right off the bat, they'll say, you know, based on these circumstances, you're gonna pay at least a couple thousand dollars towards her fees or pick to her attorney directly or what have you. But then sometimes it's always on the, you know, it's a that's on the end of the case as opposed to the beginning. And regardless, you're gonna be responsible to pay your attorney first, and then it's like they reimburse, and if they don't follow through, that's where you see some problems. So sometimes it's helpful to get the other spouse to pay um the attorney fees that are involved, but it's sometimes a waiting game as well. So I would say those are kind of the initial things that I see, but then we've got lots of other options too that sometimes people don't know about. So I try to comment on like those posts. I don't know if you've seen it or not, but I kind of created this like list um for people because I know that there's just a section of people who can't afford me that right, they just can't do it. And I still want them to have ways to get what they need. And so I thought, what better way to do that than create a list and like just comment and post these? So you'll often see me on those if you're on any of the groups that I'm in, um, just leading people to the right places. And so I put together like a little list here of those so we could share them. Um, so the first one is Legal Aid Society of Central Ohio. It's um l-asco.org. And I will um share that with Sarah um the links um afterwards so she can add it to the little bottom of the podcast. Um, but that is um a big one that does several counties here in central Ohio. And um, I think they use like a sliding scale for income. I'm not sure if they have if you're at zero income because you're total stay-at-m-home mom, um, if they, you know, only qualify based on like just your income versus yours plus his or how that really works. But definitely check that one out. Um, obviously, if you're in a different county within Ohio or in another state listening, um, you can check your local one. I'm sure there are several others. Um, I think there's one in like northwest Ohio, um, there's one southeast, I think I've seen. Um, so you just have to find the right one. But those are helpful. They don't take every case. I think it used to be they didn't take contested cases or ones with kids, but I've seen them on cases now with ones with children, which is great. Um, I'm sure it's, you know, a hard thing for them to turn away, but they they can only have so many resources as well. But that's one option at least that people can start with. Um, the other one that I thought was really cool that I had not heard about, um, and I've not volunteered for this one, but my um good friend, uh, she's a colleague of mine who has done family law and also some other things. Her name is Mindy Yokum. So shout out to Mindy. Um, she is a wonderful human being. And what she did was she created this um something called the Justice Mobile. And what she does is she has this bus go to different um places, and primarily they're going to places that are lower income or, you know, maybe places where you might catch people who need the help. Um it's not just family loss, so that's a great thing too. You know, I think they help with like evictions and like little petty, you know, uh landlord tenant issues and things like that, civil um litigation. Um, and so they have created these brief legal clinics around town um that you they can do. So I looked up, it's justicemobile.org slash clinics has their list of clinics coming up. So uh the next one is February 23rd from five to seven at Dublin Food Pantry. Um and I saw that you can like sign up online. So there's an option for that. I saw a little tab for a phone clinic, which is really cool. Um, so I think that there's lots of different options there. I know they go to the Columbus Library branch on Grant Avenue. Um, this one is the Justice Mobile is more than just like once a month. So that's the really cool thing. Um, I think probably most of these that I'll talk about are once a month otherwise. And most of them, and probably this one included, you have to sign up for in advance, but still like what a great opportunity to just be able to like, you know, ask a couple of questions. Like even if you're in the middle of a case or you know, you're just starting or need the need the push to figure out where to start. Um, I think those would be, you know, something that I would hit up if it was me, I would I would go to that one and and try to get somewhere with all because she is a great person, like I said, and she's volunteering to do this, and um, that's just on her heart to do. So I thought that was really cool when I found out about that. And I've connected with her on other things. Um, um, she created like some new attorney mentor program that I'm um I I need to reach back out to her, but um, she's starting to get that off the ground too. So it's just kind of something that she likes to do is give of herself. And so that is a helpful option for people that I don't think is as well publicized or known about by people. Um so I just tag that when I can. Um in, and that's primarily I think Franklin County. So around Franklin County. I don't know that you have to be a resident, I should say. Um, some of these you might want to check because even if you're like right outside in Madison County or Union, you know, you may be able to do them. I I think um the legal aid clinics, you do need to be like, you know, established in whichever place, but that might be um something, you know, as an option if it's if it's not required. So check on those. Um in Franklin County, speaking of, um, there is a self-help center. So specific to um family law. Again, there might be other things that I'm aware, not aware of. Um, but for family law, I know they have a self-help center there in the courthouse actually. And they can't give legal advice. Um, they are usually, I think they're all attorneys. Um, so I could be wrong, but I know at least one of them is because I know of her. Um, excuse me. And so they can at least get you started, kind of get you the paperwork. I think there's computers there they can work with you on, getting it filed and that sort of thing. Um, so while technically they can't give legal advice, I think they are super helpful when it comes to this. And that's the feedback I've gotten at least um when I've seen people post about that. So um that one I don't have a link for, but um I can get the link at least for Sarah afterwards, but it's on the domestic relations website in Franklin County. They just redid their website. So um I feel like I'm talking a lot. Do you have any questions for me or anything like that?

SPEAKER_00

I don't wanna No, no, no, you're good. I love this. This is such great information. Um it uh I was gonna jump in though and say um, my uh ex-husband and I, that's actually what we did. We went down to the courthouse um and we just like used that um that office. Um and they were they were super helpful. But you know, again, our case was super unique where we just like we agreed on everything, we got along with everything, like there was no animosity, there was no disagreement, no nothing. Um so you know, and I know that's very, very rare. Um we feel very lucky that that was the the case for us. Um, but when we went down there, they were super helpful. We were just like, hey, this is what we agree on. And they were like, great, here's the form that you need to fill out, here's this that you need to do, you know, and we were able to do that and then, you know, file it with the court system and go to court and all of that. Um, but I will say I've often wondered, like, did we leave something like, you know, like some cross, some I not dotted? Like, so I don't ever give that out as advice for people to do. Um, it is nice to know that you can go there and get questions answered and, you know, get some get some advice. And so uh, you know, I do love that.

Statewide Pro Se Forms And Local Rules

County Clinics: Hope Center And Justice Bus

Referrals For Specialized Issues

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Same thing. Um, I back when I was working um for a family law judge in Northwest Ohio, I worked for Judge Denise McCulley. And um, she was on a task force that actually was like revising the Supreme Court forms. So if you're not aware, there is um uh what they call the pro se forms for people who are not represented, and they're mandated that every court in Ohio um for family law has to accept them as you know, something that if they submit them. So they'll have like a they have like a sample on their website, they have a sample complaint for divorce or petition for dissolution, they've got separation agreements and that sort of thing. Um, all of the affidavits that you need to file, especially when you have children, there's four of them. Um, but they they have all of those on the Supreme Court website. And so it's really cool to be behind the scenes um when I was working with her and we were basically just kind of brainstorming like how do we come in as someone if we don't have like legal knowledge? How can we help people who are filling this out understand like what they need to fill out? And so it's not perfect. And like you said, there are definitely things that you know probably could be updated now and things that we've learned since then that maybe didn't work great. Um, and particularly um these are just um basic forms. If you really cannot afford to do something, this might help you through. Um, there are obviously um pitfalls of that, and that would be sometimes, you know, you're not getting what you're you're entitled to, um, you're forgetting about things. There's language that, you know, could certainly be included, and that's where attorneys come in and that would be more helpful. Um, I don't use them, you know, particularly in my practice. I, you know, I draft my own documents and I've got my own extra provisions and language, but those are available at least on the Supreme Court website. And then each court, too, I should mention, typically if you type in like Franklin County Domestic Relations Court or Delaware County Domestic Relations Court, they have their own set of local rules. And sometimes those local rules will um one help you um figure out what you need to do when. So if there's a pretrial or a status conference, and then two, they have specific forms for their county too. So they might be like those Supreme Court forms, but like tailored for the county. And sometimes they have additional forms that you must file. And so that's again where the self-help center probably said, yeah, but you need this one. So like Franklin County has a specific local rule 23 child support kind of affidavit that other counties don't have to file. So it's not in those Supreme Court forms. So those local rules are helpful. And I would just check out that website too. Um, in I know we mentioned Franklin County Self-Help Center. Do other counties have that? You know, I don't know um if they technically have those anywhere else. I've not heard of that, but they do have um other clinics. So, like I said, um in Union County, they've got what we call the Hope Center, and they help out lots of different needs for the community. It's a nonprofit, and so one of them is they've helped for many years with a legal clinic. So um they have legal aid that does um, you know, work with them. Um, and I don't know how they divide it up technically. If it's like if you qualify, you get the legal aid attorney. If you don't qualify income-wise, maybe you don't. I'm not sure, but I know that they have um sometimes the legal aid attorneys will be there at this hope clinic. Um, and that usually is um on, I think it's the first Tuesday of every month. I'm not sure on the time, but again, you sign up beforehand, just reaching out to the Hope Center and they'll get you connected. But two of um, the other two attorneys in my office, um, Matt Lang Halls, my boss, and Lauren Kimmel both volunteer there and they have for many years um every Tuesday, um, the first Tuesday of the month, I should say. And what they will do is give brief advice to people who are in need of help as well. So that's an option if you're a Union County resident. Um, I'm also aware Delhuer does something similar because I volunteer with that one. So I think that's what we were chatting about, um, what kind of started this whole conversation. So I tried to volunteer. Um, I did it for a little while back, um maybe at the beginning of COVID, and then I um wasn't able to do it for a little bit of time, and now I'm back to doing it again. And so that one is again once a month, um, usually the first um Thursday of the month, depending on the holidays and how they fall. So um I think it's technically like a 30 to 45 minute window. Um, that one is through Andrew's House, again, a nonprofit that helps the locals there in Delaware if you live in Delaware County. And um, Andrew's House helps with all the things, kind of like the Hope Center does. Um, but then they have um the volunteers who do the legal aid part of it um or legal volunteering clinic. And so I help with that, and there's probably a handful of um other attorneys who do that regularly as well. Um, and what we do is we just um she has like a little bus that's set out, and that's that's who that one's through. So it's not the Justice Mobile, but it's the Justice Bus. And I think they go all over the state. So that might be like something you check out their website too. Um, but they um have a bus outside and you can um have your little um advice clinic, you know, inside of that, or we've got spots inside the Delaware County Library, and so that's usually where I personally set up. They also have it available by Zoom. So some of the attorneys will volunteer their time and just say I'm available by phone or by Zoom, and they meet with the potential um, you know, person to discuss their matter. Um, again, I think that there are other umes than family law, but I'm not sure if that one is specific to family law. I know I only help with the family law. And so most of the attorneys, I think, at the Delaware one are family law. So I would imagine that's more geared towards it. Um, but that just might be the biggest calling as well. So if you have other issues, definitely reach out to them and and see if you know if it's something they can help with. But I think that's the good thing, like going back to Mindy's, um, the Justice Mobile, that that she does, I know have other areas of the law if it's something of interest. But I think all of those are ones that are just not as publicized and known about that, you know, stay-at-home moms could definitely take advantage of, at least, like I said, to get started. Um, I know I've given some of the people I've seen at the Delaware County Justice Bus, I've given them, you know, a start, um, got them ready to file what they needed. I've printed off paperwork and help them fill that out, um, probably a little bit more than the brief advice just to get them going. And then I give them, you know, more um resources. So I'm allowed to give them, you know, names of attorneys to refer them to. There was one with an immigration issue. So and she spoke um both languages, English and Spanish, but I was able to refer her to Delilah Nunez, who's another colleague of mine who speaks fluent Spanish, and she does a little bit of immigration as well as family law. So that was great because I didn't know that. And I was like, this is a very particular, you know, thing. And so passed her off. And then there was, you know, one issue that I had last time was uh appella issue, and that's kind of again a specific area of family law that usually it's an appellate attorney that's kind of their focus. Um, and so I was able to give her a referral for another attorney. So even if you know you just get started or just get the paperwork you need or just get to ask the initial questions, I think it's a good start for sure. So those are kind of some of the initial ones. Do you have any questions about any of those before I go on?

SPEAKER_00

Um no, I think I I love that there's so many different things. And I love that each, you know, county has kind of like uh taken, you know, uh like have taken this seriously and have realized that, you know, like that just because you can't afford it doesn't mean that you don't still need, you know, all of the help, all of the advice, you know, to make sure that you're you're getting what's fair and that it, you know, that you don't find out 10 years from now that you're actually still married to that person because you didn't file correctly.

Filing Fee Waivers And Indigency

Ohio Access To Justice Foundation

Domestic Violence Legal Support

Law School Clinics And Supervision

SPEAKER_01

So exactly. Um, well, and one thing I um that just prompted me to think about filing, there is, I think on the Ohio Stream Court website, I think there is now there didn't used to be, but I think fairly newly, um, they added a um fee waiver. So there is a way to accept, and sometimes, like I said, like I think it's Delaware has like their own um forms on their website, so it might be on there as well, but there is a way to waive the filing fee if you can't afford it. So some of the rural counties are actually pretty expensive. So I think Union County is like 500 for if you have children to file a divorce. Um, I think Madison's pretty high, Union too. I think Franklin County is only two, only I say 250, but so that can be a lot if you can't afford a console fee. And you then you're like, wait, where now do I get the filing fee? There is a waiver you can fill out to have it um pushed basically to the end of the case or to have it addressed later on. And so you can file that indigency um affidavit, and there's a uh spot on the Supreme Court's website. So I'll give you that link and hopefully um that's still on there and we can we can have people have access to that as well. Um the other website that kind of points to uh I can access it as an attorney. I mean, we can all access it, but I go to it to as an attorney and you can click on it is um Ohio Access to Justice Foundation. So it's called ohiojusticefoundation.org is the website. And I know that it has a spot for attorneys to click to do pro bono and to figure out some like opportunities and things like that. So I think that might be something that maybe you just browse if you're a stay-at-home mom to try to see if there's any opportunity on there that you didn't know about. And that way you can find, you know, where can I find an attorney that can help me with this issue. So it's worth a shot to at least check that out. And then the Ohio Domestic Violence Network, odvn.org/slash resources, is another one that, if it's applicable to you, they have attorneys who can provide advice and help with different things. They might point to to all of the services that you might need, whether it be counseling or shelter, you know, temporary help, that sort of thing. But they also have attorneys who are geared towards helping those who are in domestic violence situations. And, you know, maybe it's with a civil protection order or you know, something of that nature, but that would be a great opportunity to, you know, use them for your needs if that's something that's applicable to your situation. Um, the last one that I had listed that sometimes people will mention, but occasionally, but it's not well known about is Capitol Law has a legal clinic. So there's um a couple of different law schools that are more local to here. And so I would definitely check them out because they're under a supervising attorney. And um sometimes it's an attorney who, you know, like they have a specific family law program there, and they have this clinic that um they can, you know, let the attorney supervise the law students for. So if they're in their second or third year, for example, and they hope to go into family law eventually, those supervising attorneys can oversee their work and help them out and really um give the experience to the the people who are going to become attorneys, and that way they're able to offer that as an option too. And of course, um, it's probably low cost and or free. And so it's helping everybody kind of get that. And I personally find people who are younger, and I like to say that I'm still young, but um, people who are younger are usually more go-getters, so they're willing to put in the work, and so don't like underestimate somebody who's a newer attorney just because they are younger, because they either an attorney or law student, for example, because they're probably putting in their best work, right? Like they're like making sure they all their I's, cross all their T's, they're they're double checking their work, they're making sure they have more time, they're focusing on that a lot of the time. So I always um give a shout out to them as well. I would I would say that they probably do a great job. And I know that there's other opportunities, but those are the ones that I really like to comment and try to tag. So if anybody ever has any more, happy to add to my list. Um, but those those are the ones that I had to share today.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I love that. And I like that you um, you know, made that comment about um, you know, the legal aid uh at like Capitol or, you know, at um Ohio State or you know, any of the other like, you know, schools around here that have a law program. I love that you gave that shout out because that is so true. You know, sometimes we look at, you know, someone are like, holy crap, like you're a baby, like you wouldn't know what to do. But they are the ones that have all the time and they want to learn and they're super eager so that you know they want to put in all the work to make sure that they're learning and also helping you. So I loved that.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely. And I know I wish I had looked up, but Ohio University might have something as well. Um, I had a former colleague, uh, Larry Heyman, was a family law attorney for a long time and he went in to be like a dean over there at the Ohio Northern um or Ohio University. And I think that he helps prep people to go get off to law school too and to get into the legal program. So uh that might be an option. But yeah, I think it's great to have, you know, younger generation learning from the from the bottom on up.

Closing Resources And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00

So yeah, I love it. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for taking time out to give us all of these resources. I think it's so helpful. Um, and you know, I like it gives me hope that other people, you know, are gonna be able to get the help that they need. So uh I'll make sure that all of these resources are in the show notes. So if you're listening to this and you weren't able to write down all of the, you know, websites or the names or whatever, um, don't worry. They're all gonna be in the show notes. So you'll be able to, you know, go there, access all that information.

SPEAKER_01

So awesome. Well, thank you so much for having me, and I hope it's helpful for some people in need.

SPEAKER_00

Excellent. Thank you so much, and thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next time on Thrive and Decide Guide to Divorce.