Legal forms

About legal forms

Several types of forms are used in legal practice. Litigation forms, like pleadings and motions, are forms used in court proceedings. Transaction forms are legal agreements, like a will, power of attorney, or business contract. 

The library has resources where you can look for sample litigation forms for use in federal courts, California state courts, and some other state courts. 

The library's collection includes sample legal agreements for many types of personal uses, including wills and estate planning, real estate transactions, and employment agreements. 

Sometimes, courts will require a specific form for a particular purpose, like the Proof of Service of Summons for use in California state courts. Sometimes, court-produced forms are optional instead of mandatory. And sometimes, there is no court-produced form, but you can find a sample template for a form in one of the library's many sources of sample forms. Finally, if there is no sample form, you would have to write your own document.

Reference librarians can help you find sample forms and resources to explain how to use them, but aren't able to give advice about what form to use or how to fill it out.