Free Legal Resources Part 2

Free Legal Resources Part 2

So, after my last post, you may be thinking that free legal resources are only found in random places and only fit random situations. Today I bring you the good news that you were wrong.

There are actually two great legal resources that can be found on the internet and are absolutely free. That is unless you count your taxes. Then they are only free if you don’t pay taxes. But, for those of you who pay your taxes, you might as well get something good out of it, right?

So here are two online resources that may be quite helpful should you ever have a legal question or run into a legal problem:

1. State and federal codes online.

So, by codes, I don’t mean that the state and federal government are sending our secret spy codes online. I mean ‘code’ as in ‘laws’. And most states have published their state’s laws online where you can browse and/or search them. For those in Utah, at http://le.utah.gov/Documents/code_const.htm, you can find links to either browse through the sections of the Utah State Code or you can do a search by keyword. For example, you can find that the phrase ‘ice cream’ is found twice in the Utah Code whereas the words ‘Jello’ and ‘Jell-o’ are nowhere to be found. For federal laws, you can find a TON of resources all over the internet, but they can be tough to sort through and find what you want. If you want to browse federal laws, then I would suggest Cornell Law schools website at http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/.

2. State court websites.

Most state court systems have a lot of information available to litigants. For example, on Utah’s state court website, you can find information such as: Utah court rules, Utah Court forms, Utah jury duty information, information about traffic violations, and even access to some appellate court decisions, and more. Though some of these resources are limited in scope and are only available relative to certain areas of the law, they can be very helpful, and they are absolutely free. You can even find things from a legal dictionary to forms to help you change your legal name.

So, if you ever find yourself with a legal question or facing a legal problem, don’t hesitate to look into it yourself first. Search for available resources and educate yourself. You may find the answer(s) you are looking for and you will put yourself in a better position for determining whether you need to hire an attorney.

‘Til next time.

Steve

Is it Possible to Find Good, Free Legal Resources? Part 1

Believe it or not, there are a lot of free legal resources available to anyone who knows how to find them.

There are two problems with free legal resources:
1. Being able to find something that is relevant to you or your potential legal problems, and
2. Figuring out whether the free resource you've discovered is worth what you paid for it.

Since I can't always be there to hold everyone's hands while searching for free legal resources (and since I only hold my wife's hand anyways) you will have to do some of this on your own. But let me at least point out one resource that you can all easily check out to get some free legal forms.

Microsoft Word

So, even if you don't like the 'M' company, if you who have a version of Microsoft Word installed on a computer, you have easy access to a simple, yet helpful, free legal resource. I'll explain how to find it using Microsoft Word 2007 but the steps will be similar for most MS Word versions.

1. Open Microsoft Word.
2. Open a new document. For MS Word 2007, click on the windows symbol in the top left corner.
3. Click on 'New'. You should get a screen that pops up and asks you what kind of new document you would like to create. In the column on the left, you should see several types of documents.
4. Pick 'Forms'. Then you get several categories of forms. One category should say 'Legal Forms'.
5. Click on 'Legal Forms' and you should see several examples of various legal forms that have been created.
Some of these have been created by Microsoft employees, and others have been submitted by users of Microsoft Word. Some might be relevant to you, whereas something like the 'Kentucky General Durable Power of Attorney' will be useless to someone who will never live east of the Mississippi.
Even if most of these don't seem helpful, I'll point out one that most, if not all, of you can use. Under the 'Personal Forms' category, you can find a document called 'Glove Box Accident Information Form'. You should print a copy of this off for each vehicle you own/drive and put it in your glove box.

So why is this so important?
If you ever get in a car accident, the 'Glove Box Accident Information Form' can save you a lot of headache later down the road. And no, the 'Glove Box Accident Information Form' is not a chiropractor and will not adjust your back to help reduce your whiplash induced headaches. But it can help prevent legal headaches. This applies no matter who caused the accident (and will probably be most helpful in situations where it is otherwise difficult to determine the driver at fault). 
The more information you collect at the time of an automobile accident, the more of a record you have on your side when it comes time to need it. If someone gets a ticket or if someone gets injured, there will be a time where you need it. Unfortunately, those things are pretty common when it comes to car accidents.
So, if you are defending yourself from traffic tickets or personal injury claims, or acting as a witness, or trying to recover damages for a personal injury you've suffered, the more information you have on your side, the more complete your legal position will be. Also, since not everybody has a perfect memory, courts will frequently allow someone to rely on information that was recorded at the time of an accident.
Just make sure that if you are injured and losing blood and you know you are going to pass out, fill out as much of the form as possible before you lose consciousness.

For those interested,  here is a direct link to the above mentioned form on Microsoft's website.

'Til next time,
Steve



^{*Thank you to M.S. Joe, a community member at Microsoft Office Online for publicly sharing a helpful document.}

Welcome to my legal blog (blawg).

Hey everybody!

Welcome to my new blog! I decided to use my legal super-powers for good so I will be discussing legal issues that may affect or intrigue you. In other words, you can come here to find free legal advice. Oh, and it will be good advice. And real advice. So you could just say it is real good advice.

I will also take opportunities to poke a little fun at other's legal bloopers and share any good lawyer jokes I come across, so stay tuned.

'Til next time,
Steve