What happened to our legal system?

When did the Justice System become the Attorney’s Full Employment Agency?

I have a simple case. I want to inform the court that my son no longer resides with his mother. He moved in with me and his step family months ago.  I still get child support bills from the state on behalf of my ex. Seems simple enough, I show he lives with me through various documents like school records, medical records, etc. and the someone at the child support disbursement office fixes the problem.

Not so fast.

The child support disbursement unit decided to stop taking calls.  Period.  Every phone number that has anything to do with them is answered by an automated system and, you guessed it, no option for a person.  There is one published number for live help but that shows busy.  Off the hook busy.  Never not busy.

What to do?  How about call the county clerk. Live help there, but may as well be a recording.  “They are hard to reach”, “I hear that a lot”, and my favorite, “You can file yourself”.  That last comment brings a resigned, “ok, how do I do that?”.  Oops, broke the cardinal rule, county clerks cannot offer legal advice.  But I don’t want advice; I just want to know what paperwork I need to fill out.  Apparently in the crazy mixed up world of smart legal people even that constitutes advice.  I either need to hire an attorney at $200/hr to file or guess at what packet to fill out.  Sounds to me like a rule to keep attorneys working in these hard times.

Did I mention that attorneys willing to offer phone quotes start at over $4000?  Just to file a child custody change?  If you are accused of a felony you have an attorney appointed to you, but ask which form to fill out and you’d better have some cash laying around.

This brings back my question; when did the courts start serving lawyers?  Why are lawyers guaranteed employment this way?  When even the hundreds in filing fees are themselves a financial burden why does the state/county allow the added burden of exorbitant fees?

The way it seems to me: Courts are run by lawyers.  Judges must first be attorneys and they are recommended by other attorneys.  I’m denied reasonable access to the justice system because simple information has been classified as advice.  This serves the lawyers lining the streets surrounding the courthouse but how does it serve justice?  If I buy a TV with a rebate the clerk is allowed to give me the form to claim it, not fill it out for me.  But if I’m to correct an error because the court couldn’t predict the future I’m out of luck; get a lawyer.

When politicians label the courts as “run-amok” and they get a resounding cheer; it’s this kind of disregard for common sense motivating the claim and the cheers.