When DIYers come to me for trial coaching, the questions always arises, "Why should I spend the money on a court reporter?" While I encourage you to settle your differences, sometimes that's not possible. If your case is going to trial, you need to plan for a possible appeal. If you are going to trial, I encourage you to seek counsel. It is not easy to conduct a trial, especially without legal training. But I know some of you are going to trial in do it yourself divorces.
Without a transcript from a court reporter, you will have a difficult, if not impossible, time appealing. That's because an appeals court will not re-try your case. It will be looking at whether there were errors by the trial judge. That means the appellate judges will be looking at the court file and the transcript to see how the judge handled things in your case.
Without a transcript, you will have to have your spouse and the trial court approve a statement of facts. If that doesn't happen, your appeal is likely to get nowhere if you don't have a transcript of the trial. That's what the court of appeals needs to see in order to properly consider your appeal.
So if your case is headed for trial, go ahead an spend the money for a court reporter. It's just silly to spend the time and resources to go to trial and not have a reporter. In the grand scheme of things, the cost is small compared to the potential benefit of having a court reporter at your Florida divorce trial.
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