EXCLUSIVE

Ben and Jen We Just Submitted Final Divorce Docs And Never Hired a Lawyer!!!

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner have now submitted final divorce paperwork to an L.A. County Superior Court judge ... and they did it all without lawyering up ... TMZ has learned.

The paperwork will make their divorce final. TMZ broke the story, they hired a private judge to do all the paperwork stuff and the final package was submitted Friday to the court. When the clerk puts the official stamp on the docs, the divorce will be backdated to October 9 ... that's when Ben signed off (Jen had signed off days earlier).

The official documents show what TMZ first reported -- that they will share joint physical and legal custody of their 3 kids. They also agreed to meet with a coparenting therapist on a monthly basis for a minimum of 6 months.

The docs also say "Neither party shall make derogatory or insulting remarks about the other ... in the presence of or within hearing distance of any of the minor children," and also says, "Each party is restrained from arguing, yelling, or using profanity directed at the other party in the presence or within hearing distance of any of the minor children."

As we reported, the couple did NOT have a prenup. They have divided their assets but the info isn't in the divorce docs.

And, this is super interesting ... rather than each hiring a lawyer, they used disso queen Laura Wasser to mediate the divorce. In other words, Wasser was not an advocate for either Ben or Jen -- her job was to reach an agreement with as little conflict as possible.

Wasser has become a big proponent of conflict-free divorce with her website, It's Over Easy ... which allows people to unhitch without hiring an attorney.

As for Ben and Jen ... we're told the goal is to get the documents stamped immediately or, at the very latest, by year's end. But, the official date of divorce will be October 9.

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