Help yourself!
Online Self Service Center saves money and trip to courthouse
By Jean Williams, Esq.
For some, the thought of representing themselves in a court case is too intimidating even to consider. Unfamiliar legal forms and complicated jargon discourage them from handling court matters without the guidance of an attorney.
The Clerk & Comptroller’s Self Service Center gives people the choice to handle their own civil court matters such as divorce, small claims and landlord/tenant actions by providing access to more than fifty legal forms at its five Palm Beach County locations. Last year, the Center served almost 70,000 people.
The Center also offers attorney consultations for as little as $15. Click here for a complete list of forms available.
Despite the low cost of the legal documents, some forms, like the 90-page divorce packet, were too confusing to complete for a layperson. Soon, the Center provided on-site computers that made filling out the forms faster and easier.
Today, using the Self Service Center doesn’t even require leaving your home. The Clerk & Comptroller’s Web site provides online access to legal forms for small claims, eviction and divorce cases. A user-friendly, interactive program, designed by the Clerk’s Information Technology department and Self Service Center staff, was launched in July 2006. Since then, 800 people have used the online program.
The online Self Service Center does not require advanced computer skills. Users simply select the desired legal form and answer a series of guided questions relating to their case. The information contained in the answers is inserted automatically into a legal form which may be printed from the user’s home computer.
The neatly typed forms are not only faster and easier to complete (a divorce form that would take two or more hours to complete takes less than 30 minutes using the new program), but also easier for clerks and judges to read, compared to the handwritten forms of the past.
The program also provides users with definitions of legal terms found in the forms. Legal jargon like “shared parental responsibility” or “irretrievably broken” are explained when the user clicks on a highlighted word.
Online users often comment on the ease and convenience of using the program from home.
Clerk Sharon Bock also has shared the program with other Clerk’s offices across the state.
Download the Self Service Center brochure.
Jean Williams, Esq. is the Clerk & Comptroller’s Self Service and Legal Support Manager. She was formerly employed by the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County, which provides civil legal advice, representation and education to the disadvantaged of Palm Beach County.