There are times when it's best to NOT get a lawyer

As an attorney, I highly advise people to seek out legal experts for the pertinent issues in their lives for most, in fact almost all, situations they may encounter. Do you have considerable/some assets you would like to not see eaten up by the fighting of relatives and probate court? Get a lawyer. Even if you are young, it helps. Would you like to donate your body to science? Your family might not feel that great about the idea; get a lawyer to draft you a document that makes them comply. You want to sue your employer? Get a lawyer, but I advise against it in most situations. I will talk about that later, another "labor law" post (as I am a labor lawyer).

But there are two specific situations in which getting a lawyer should be a last straw: when you are fund raising and amicable child support situations.

Fundraising, for a funds-needing do good organization is a difficult tax-pit-fall ridden, state law maze creating nightmare if you look at it from the legal side. If you are a not-for-profit organization, for example, and your organizational purpose says one thing (like, say, being a student affinity group on campus though I am not quite sure what the purpose would say in this event) and you want to give out donations to the poor, you just may not be able to, that is, if you talk to a lawyer first. Once a lawyer tells you no, and you do it anyway, you are in dangerous territory. But what if the person is homeless and without clothes, and you are an individual of plenty? I say, don't get a lawyer. Sue me. This is not legal advice ;) There, that is my disclaimer.

Now to the child support issue: if you have a no-good man or a cheating and conniving mother of your child, then by all means get a lawyer and get one quick. However, if you two are generally amicable, and you want to ensure you are covered, write up a contract and you both sign it. As long as he or she isn't secretly harboring angry and jealous feelings about that last affair, you should be ok. It is much cheaper, and a much more flexible situation evolves, if the parties do things together. If you are a parent who actually thinks about the well-being of your child, you will realize that children are expensive and needy creatures who require money and your emotional energies. And if you are able to get over yourself and your failed relationship for the better of a human being who needs you desperately (ie be a man or a woman, not a child yourself) you can figure out amongst yourselves that you should split the child care costs, alternate on the clothes purchases, and assist the primary care giver with groceries, general costs like electricity and rent for that extra bedroom, and other general costs. Like healthcare. Kids get sick a lot. But that is if the man and women are prepared to act like adults, and be the parents that the child needs.