Consumer Group: More Americans Self-Representing in Court

Now entering the first quarter of 2007, professionals offering educational services to their clients for self-representation on legal matters are recording all time high enrollments.

The Federal and State Courts have noted the rising increase of litigants appearing without counsel in domestic relations issues such as divorce, custody and child support. Even smaller claims such a tenant/landlord, probate, protective orders, and other civil matters (debt) have seen mothers, fathers and singles citizens representing themselves in court. “Credit Card Rest In Peace through the educational services of North American Educational Services (NAES) is at the forefront of this trend. For the last 6 years American Consumers with $8000 or more of Credit Card Debt have been able receive the education and tools needed to make informed decisions and to confidently move forward and represent themselves in Court” so said Credit Card RIP Founder, Richard Garcia.

The staff at NAES includes: Former bank compliance division experts and Resource and Financial Education Specialists who have personal experience in utilizing these procedures from start to finish. These procedures include consumer remedies based on 12 C.F.R. (Code of Federal Regulations), the Fair Credit Billing Act, which is taken from Title 15 of the U.S.C. (United States Code) and other applicable federal laws. Additionally, for people with credit concern issues, Debt Relief Educational Services (DRES) provides an educational tutorial based on consumer protection laws as well as a partnership with the nations leading credit repair organization.

The educational process provides them with the best alternative solution to bankruptcy, consolidation, and other remedies that have been proven to be detrimental to their financial situation. To date, DRES has helped thousands of people obtain significant debt relief and restore an incredible amount of freedom back in to their lives! Several states and many jurisdictions keep track of the numbers of self-represented litigants in their courts. The following list provided by National Center for State Courts of online reports provides a snapshot of statistics in various jurisdictions around the country, divided into four main categories. We will highlight one example from each category.

A. State Court Pro Se Statistics

California Statewide Action Plan for Self-represented Litigants. California Judicial Council Task Force on Self-Represented Litigants (2004). See page 2 for statistics. For example: · Over 4.3 million court users are self-represented in California. · For family law cases: 67% of petitioners at filing (72% for largest counties) are self-represented and 80% of petitioners at disposition for dissolution cases are self-represented. · For unlawful detainer cases: 34% of petitions at filing are self-represented, and over 90% of defendants are self-represented.

B. State Appellate Court Pro Se Statistics

The Future of Self-Represented Litigation: Report from the March 2005 Summit. Williamsburg, VA: National Center for State Courts (2005). This publication provides a wide range of papers describing several innovative solutions to meeting the needs of pro se litigants as well as provides various statistics. For example: From Paper 1: Framing the Issue by John Greacen, “We have learned the following about programs provided by the courts that serve self represented litigants: The rates of usage vary dramatically, with only a third of self represented litigants taking advantage of the courts’ programs in some jurisdictions, while 80% use the programs in other jurisdictions. That programs tend to serve many more plaintiffs than defendants (with ratios ranging from a low of 2.5 plaintiffs for every defendant for a high of 15 plaintiffs for every defendant) in family law cases; the converse is true in landlord tenant and debt collection cases.”

C. Federal Court Pro Se Statistics

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Statistics. Eastern District of California. Pro se district filings are listed: · 17% of filings were pro se in January 2006. · 17% of filings were pro se in February 2006. · 15% of filings were pro se in March 2006.

D. Other Pro Se Statistics

Ayn Crawley. Trends in Pro Se Litigation. Maryland Legal Assistance Network. Statewide statistics of over 40,000 self-represented users of programs in Maryland in 2002 show: · 60% were women. · 44% described themselves as African American and 9% as Hispanic. · The vast majority had modest incomes. · Case types: o 38% – Divorce/Annulment/Separation o 32% – Custody o 16% – Child Support o 11% – Visitation o 3% – Alimony/Name Change and Paternity

Credit Card Rest In Peace / NAES take a cutting edge approach into an industry, which is greatly untapped. There are millions of Americans who suffer from having too much unhealthy debt in their lives. NAES programs offer an opportunity for people to recapture an enormous part of their personal and financial freedom by eliminating this condition. We are changing that old adage about those how represent themselves have a fool for an attorney with a much more empowering adage……Knowledge IS Power.

Your journey to empowerment through knowledge begins at our website CreditCardRIP.com . Our primary purpose is to address the overwhelming concern of Americans demanding answers to the volatile changing landscape of the Credit Card Industry. Our mission statement is to relieve Americans from the burden of Debt, one family at a time.