Legal Question in Family Law in California

You are going to need a lawyer who has a good paralegal. Unlike child support, which is subject to a mandatory formula that is run on court approved software, "alimony" which is correctly called Spousal Support, is subject to a variety of legal principals that only a paralegal who is unconcerned about being prosecuted for the unauthorized practice of law would touch. Once a lawyer determines whether and under what standards your spousal support obligations are subject to modification, however, his or her paralegal should be able to prepare the forms at a much lower rate than the lawyer's. If your request is pretty cut and dried, you may even be able to handle the hearing yourself, but you would have to find an attorney willing to accept "limited scope representation" status. If the issues are more complicated, you'll want a lawyer to handle the hearing.

Unsupervised paralegals who give you advice are practicing law without a license. I have found in my experience that freelance paralegals don't know what they are doing. As Mr. McCormick points out, you would need a paralegal supervised by an attorney.