Resources · Real Documents Library

The documents nobody shows you

Real motions from my own family court case, with the names taken out and everything else left in, so you can see what these documents actually look like before you have to write one.

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Why I'm sharing these

When I was representing myself, the thing I wanted more than almost anything was to see what a real motion looked like, one written by an actual person in an actual family case, so I'd have something to shape my own around. I searched for weeks and kept coming up empty, and it took me a long time to understand why. Appellate decisions get published, but the motions, responses and billing records that fill a trial court file almost never do, and in Florida, family case documents are harder for the public to reach online than most other court records. So unless a case goes all the way up on appeal, the paperwork that decides most families' lives just stays in the clerk's system where hardly anyone can see it.

I kept thinking that if I'd been able to look at even a few real examples, I would have spent less money, lost less sleep and made fewer mistakes, and I suspect a lot of parents feel the same way. So I went back through my own case file and redacted the documents I thought would be most useful, and I'm putting them here for anyone who's trying to figure out what these things are supposed to look like.

My hope is that seeing them takes a little of the mystery out of the process, whether you're working with a lawyer and want to understand what you're paying for, or you're on your own and staring at a blank page at eleven at night.

Carrie Bailey, founder of Signals & Structure

A few things I want to be upfront about

I'm not a lawyer, and nothing on this page is legal advice. These are examples from one case, filed under one set of rules at one moment in time, and I can't tell you whether any of it fits your situation or how a court would see it, which I know is frustrating, because I remember how badly I wanted someone to just tell me.

I'd also gently point out that these aren't templates. Some of what I filed worked and some of it didn't, and they were written for the specific facts, rules and deadlines in my case, so they're best used to understand how these documents are built rather than copied. Court rules and local procedures change, and every county and judge can have their own requirements, so if you're drafting something of your own, it's worth checking the current rules and talking with a family law attorney or your local self-help center if you can.

And these come from my case, not yours, which means they tell one side's story. I've tried to share them in a way that's about learning how the process works, not about the other parent in my case, and I'd ask that they be used in that same spirit.

How the redactions work

Every name, address, phone number, email, case number and court location has been replaced with a label in a black box, like these:

[FORMER WIFE][FORMER HUSBAND][CHILD][FH ATTORNEY][CASE NO.]

The dates and the actual wording stay, because that's the part worth learning from.

The library

Each document has a short note about what it is and what's worth noticing. You can read all of that right here, and the PDFs themselves come to your inbox when you request the library below.

Motions I wrote myself

Motion to Vacate or Rehear

Pro se motionFlorida family court18 pages

What it is: After a general magistrate's recommended order found me in contempt on two issues, I filed this motion asking the court to vacate those findings or rehear them. It's the first big motion I wrote entirely on my own.
Why I'm sharing it: It shows how a self-represented parent can walk a court through the record, with transcript citations by page and line, the exact parenting plan language at issue, and case law, and it's the kind of document I couldn't find a single real example of when I needed one.
What to look for: Notice how each argument starts from what the order said, then points to the transcript or exhibit that shows something different, and how the parenting plan's own definition of a child-related expense does a lot of the work. You'll also see places where the motion drifts into frustrations with counsel and the process, which is very human and something I'd trim today.

🔒 PDF included in the library email

Motion to Strike and Response to Motion to Vacate

Pro se motion and responseFlorida family court12 pages

What it is: When the other side filed their own motion to vacate after the deadline, I filed this motion to strike it as untimely, combined with a response to their arguments about attorney's fees and the mediation requirement in our agreement.
Why I'm sharing it: It's a good example of two things parents run into constantly, which are deadlines under the rules and prevailing party fee clauses, and of how you can quote your own marital settlement agreement to make a point.
What to look for: Look at how the timeliness argument comes first and stays short, because a missed deadline can decide a motion on its own, and then notice how the response section quotes the agreement's dispute resolution and fee clauses word for word before arguing what they mean.

🔒 PDF included in the library email

Still to come

I'm still working through the rest of my file, including a support document I filed with my motion to vacate. If there's a kind of document you wish you could see before writing your own, tell me, and I'll see what I can share.

Get the full library as it grows

Tell me where to send it and I'll email you the documents that are ready now, plus a note each time I add something new. It's free, and I'll only write when there's something worth opening.

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Questions people ask

Can I copy one of these motions for my own case?

You're welcome to use them to understand structure and format, but I'd be careful copying the arguments, because they were written for specific facts, rules and deadlines in my case, and some of them didn't work. Your county's self-help center and a family law attorney are the right places to check what your own filing needs.

Why do I have to give my email to get the PDFs?

Partly because these are real documents from a real family, and I'd feel better knowing they go to people who actually want to learn from them rather than to automated scrapers, and partly because it's the only way I can let you know when I add something new. The descriptions on this page will always stay open to everyone.

Is this from a real case?

Yes, it's from my own post-judgment case in Florida. Everything that could identify the people involved, especially my daughter, has been removed.

Do you have documents from other states?

Not yet, since everything here comes from a Florida case, and procedure really does vary from state to state, so it's worth checking your own state's rules and forms.

Can I send you my documents to review?

I'd rather you didn't, and not because I'm not interested. I'm not a lawyer, so I can't review filings, and your case file should stay yours. That's the same reason the Signals & Structure tools run on your own computer instead of mine.

Most of what makes family court so exhausting is how much of it happens out of sight, and the parents with the least money usually have the least access to the examples everyone else takes for granted. Putting a few real documents out in the open won't fix that, but it might help someone walk into their next hearing understanding a little more about what's in front of them, and my hope is that it makes the process a bit less lonely too. And if seeing how quickly all of this adds up nudges even one family toward mediation or a clearer plan before things get that far, that would mean more to me than anything else on this page.