Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

You file for one. You research the applicable portions of the RCW title 26 and statutory procedural rules. You review cases from appellate and the Washington Supreme Courts interpreting the RCWs. You become familiar with the state court rules (civil), the general court rules, and the local court rules. Blah blah blah...

It's a hassle but many people do it all the time. If you can't afford an attorney, and have the time to do the work yourself you generally start by going to the local law library and asking for whatever pro se help they have. www.washingtonlawhelp.org is a great website for pro se (I recommend it constantly). The worry is if the other side does hire an attorney that knows how to make pro se life miserable.

Finally, some people fall into a sort of middle category when it comes to attorneys. They can't afford to hire a team of attorneys, paralegals, assistants, investigators, etc. They don't want to, or can't do some part (e.g. the show cause hearing), and thus hire a firm to do just one particular aspect of the case (unbundled legal services).