If you wouldn't due your own surgery you surely shouldn't try to do your own divorce. Hiring an attorney to guide you through one of life's most difficult moments makes sense but hiring an experienced divorce attorney is really the smart thing to do.
People who try to represent themselves usually become clients of mine when they either can't complete the large amount of paperwork necessary to process an uncontested divorce or they come in afterwards because their spouse had an attorney and they didn't and now they have become aware that the "uncontested agreement" that they signed is not fair.
What usually goes wrong is that the amount of money being paid for child support, child care and "extras" is not calculated fairly or properly for the paying spouse. The parenting schedule does not provide the proper amount of parenting time and does not address the school recesses, holiday or summer schedules properly. If there is a house involved the payment of expenses must be properly set forth and if the house is to be sold provisions are necessary regarding the listing price and reductions if necessary. If there is a pension is the value properly calculated and if there is a QDRO to be prepared who is doing it, who is paying for it and is the non-working spouse protected properly?
Equally significant is that an experienced divorce attorney can tell you what you should get or what you have to do and what you don't have to do. The years of experience not just as an attorney but as a matrimonial attorney will provide you with the real life knowledge of how the courts typically decide cases.
I know my limitations when it comes to fixing things in my home and that is why I hire a plumber, electrician, an accountant to prepare my taxes and see a doctor rather than try and find the answers and how to do it all on the Internet.
An attorney will not have the same emotional upset that clients going through a divorce often feel and the attorney will be able to give unemotional but practical advice.
Using professionals is necessary for so many things in life and a divorce which is one of life's biggest decisions should be handled with the same professional skills that you would consider for lesser problems.