There is a lawyer saying that being your own lawyer means you have a fool for a client. If lawyers who are trained and admitted to the bar should not represent themselves then it would be reasonable to believe that a less trained person should not do it either.
The reasons to avoid self-representation are many and include:
1. When you are your own lawyer you lose the ability to see things from the other person's point of view or from the view of a judge. Your own beliefs and feelings affect your ability to negotiate a fair settlement and thus avoid a prolonged contested divorce.
2. You have not made a career and devoted hours to learning divorce, custody, child support, equitable distribution of assets and debts, spousal support and often real estate and business law as well. It takes many years beyond law school to have a solid footing in these areas. Reading a statute or a single case may not be the answer for many different reasons and thus finding one example to fit your situation may not lead to the same result. Lawyers spend years learning how to distinguish cases and how to interpret statutes.
3. When both sides have lawyers often the judges will hold a conference with just the lawyers in chambers and there, often, a more frank "off the record" discussion takes place to try and find a resolution. The judge may give an indication to the lawyers of the outcome which would never be shared with a pro se litigant to avoid claims of bias and prejudice. These comments are made based on if the evidence were as either lawyer states what the judge might be inclined to do. It is not in any way a final result but it does give good insight into how the court views the arguments.
4. You have no stress or anxiety about whether your papers are prepared properly, how to file, how to serve, how to communicate with the court and opposing counsel, how to subpoena documents, how to prepare for trial and how to enforce any awards made after trial or settlement.
5. Finally, the desire is to get it done right the first time and not to have to return because things were not included, language is ambiguous and unclear. All too often I have clients come in after they are divorced with documents that were not prepared properly. They have problems selling the house or being bought out, the evaluation of retirement accounts was not done properly, assets were not valued properly, parenting schedules have big gaps, child and spousal support agreements are not detailed sufficiently.
The money saved in not retaining an experienced local divorce attorney often comes at a steep cost both in the short term and long term. If lawyers hire their own lawyers, then clients should also.