My lawyer has just given me very little guidance, except to pick apart all of my actions/thoughts and tell me what I should NOT have done.

And seems to not be crafting any sort of defense, if I don’t have irrefutable proof or expert testimony my lawyer is telling me to expect them to side with the other party.

For example; after much moral debate with myself decided to submit a video into evidence of my ex in one of his rages. Where my ex is screaming and swearing at me and calling me every name in the book. At some point I calmly said “Oh, I’m a piece of s***?” And he the proceeded to verbally abuse me.

My lawyer said “I’m not sure about this video, you were kinda goading him in the beginning.”

Another example: our child was interviewed by a guardian ad litem, and mentioned how he witnessed ex yelling at me and “verbally abusing” me.

My lawyer said that I obviously put those words in my child’s (12) mouth and children don’t say things like that.

It feels like my lawyer is working for my ex and not for me. And maybe it’s my lawyer’s job to only mention what I’m doing wrong, but it feels very defeating. Not to mention my lawyer has given me no guidelines of what to ask for or expect financially out of the situation or attempted or asked for anything to refute the mountain of lies ex provided in the interrogatories or discovery.