Benchbooks and Other Stuff to Help Pro Se Litigants

[Widto]

Awesome stuff SDJ. You are a real blessing to this sight. Keep up the great work you're doing...

p.s. PM sent...

[SingleDadJames]

Originally Posted by admin

Great thread. Making it a sticky.

Awesome! Glad to see this is considered helpful enough to be a sticky! I'll definitely be trying to contribute more as time goes by.

Also everyone keep in mind that others can help contribute to this thread too! It doesn't HAVE to be a link to a benchbook...it can be a link to some other sort of useful information to help a pro se!

[SingleDadJames]

Originally Posted by Widto

Awesome stuff SDJ. You are a real blessing to this sight. Keep up the great work you're doing...

p.s. PM sent...

Thanks Widto!
Most of the info needed to accomplish things as a pro se is out there...you just have to be willing to find it and put in the effort to read through it. Most of the work (especially the first time through) is finding all the information. Hopefully this thread can help others cut down their initial research time.

[Defendant9]

There are not benchbooks for all areas, but you can find information here:

http://www.flcourts.org/gen_public/c...ferences.shtml

Here is a link to the Foreclosure Benchbook:

http://mattweidnerlaw.com/blog/wp-co...ok+-+07-10.pdf

Here is a link to the criminal law benchbook:

http://www.davidsilverman.com/Crimin...nch%20Book.htm

The Florida Attorney General has a website How to Protect Yourself: Debt Collection here:

http://myfloridalegal.com/pages.nsf/...6!OpenDocument


Here is a link to the Pro Se Appellate Handbook:

http://prose.flabarappellate.org/toc.asp

If you are going to trial in Florida you may be interested in the Compendium of Standards of Operation and Best Practices for Florida's Trial Courts which can be found here:

http://www.flcourts.org/gen_public/c...mpendium.shtml

If you need information from any County Clerk of the Court you can find it on My Florida Clerks:

http://www.myfloridaclerks.com/

There is a central site for Official Records requests at My Florida County:

https://www.myfloridacounty.com/offi...rds/index.html

[SingleDadJames]

Thanks Defendant9!
I haven't even gotten into posting much in the areas beyond general civil benchbooks and information that pertain to creditor/debtor cases because that's the central focus of this site..

I'm definitely finding its much more common for courts to have benchbooks and guides on things such as foreclosure, Domestic Violence, harassment, family law, custody, criminal, traffic, DUI, Small Claims, and Landlord-Tenant issues.

These are awesome resources for the pro se who needs help in these areas. Of course, finding general civil or debtor-creditor pro se information generally proves to be much harder in many courts.

Thanks for sharing!

[Tootsie88]

I think this one covers all states

http://www.nfpcar.org/Legal/bench/index.htm

[SingleDadJames]

Originally Posted by Tootsie88

I think this one covers all states

http://www.nfpcar.org/Legal/bench/index.htm

Thanks Tootsie...I've come across the site you listed many times. Unfortunately, as the name indicates, it's more of a site dedicated to family law,custody,and juvenile law benchbooks. It also doesn't appear to be very updated as many of the states have nothing listed when I know for a fact there are many family law/custody related benchbooks for those states.

Certainly a good site for anyone dealing with family law or custody issues.

[SingleDadJames]

Here are some links to some Arkansas benchbooks that may be useful:

http://contentdm.ncsconline.org/cgi-...ial&CISOPTR=50

http://courts.state.ar.us/judicial_e...blications.cfm

You can even see some live streaming or archived oral arguments from the Arkansas Supreme Court. Might not be all that useful, but interesting none the less!:
http://arkansas-sc.granicus.com/View....php?view_id=2

[SingleDadJames]

Here is a link to some judge specific benchbooks for Wyoming District Court Judges. They are sort of a Q and A format on the judge's basic preferences and protocols so they may not be all that useful...but still could be worth a look:
http://wyomingbar.org/benchbooks/index.html

More of the same for Wyoming Circuit Court Judges:
http://wyomingbar.org/benchbooks/circuit_courts.html



Here are a few other potentially useful links for Wyoming I came across:

http://wyomingbar.org/resources/category.html

Wyoming Benchbook for Judges of Courts of limited Jurisdiction 1991 http://www.wymc.net/docs/1991BenchBook.pdf

Wyoming Municipal Court Benchbook:
http://www.wymc.net/docs/2009Benchbookcompiled5.pdf

Wyoming Civil Jury Instructions 1991:
http://www.wymc.net/docs/CivliJuryBenchbook99.pdf

[antiquedave]

Federal Practice manual for Legal Aid Attorneys

http://www.federalpracticemanual.org/node/3

Another thatmight have some information
http://www.sado.org/selfhelp.htm

MICHIGAN IN PRO PER MANUALS

http://coa.courts.mi.gov/clerkoffice/ppmanual.htm

OTHER PRO SE RESOURCES
http://www.fear.org/legalhlp.html

[SingleDadJames]

Originally Posted by antiquedave

Federal Practice manual for Legal Aid Attorneys

http://www.federalpracticemanual.org/node/3

Another thatmight have some information
http://www.sado.org/selfhelp.htm

MICHIGAN IN PRO PER MANUALS

http://coa.courts.mi.gov/clerkoffice/ppmanual.htm

OTHER PRO SE RESOURCES
http://www.fear.org/legalhlp.html

Awsome...Thanks dave!
I saw the Michigan Appeals Court manual awhile ago and forgot all about it! Thanks again!

[SingleDadJames]

INDIANA Benhbooks and other resources:

Here is a list of links to some Indiana Benchbooks. Again of course the one that would be most valuable to most visitors (civil benchbook) is missing. However there is still a TON of great useful information here. This site includes small claims benchbooks and much more.
http://www.in.gov/judiciary/center/pubs/benchbooks/


The Indiana Trial Court Administration Manual is aimed toward providing general procedural and administration info for court clerks and trial judges. It can be equally valuable for explaining much of the legal process for the pro se. It explains things like what documents get filed with the court, when they get filed, and much more:
http://www.in.gov/judiciary/admin/pu...urt/index.html

The Indiana Self-Service Legal Center site provides some great pro se information:
http://www.in.gov/judiciary/selfservice/

[brawnylad]

These should help out lots of folks. Way to go SDJ and antiquedave...

My only suggestion would be to consolidate all of the links (grouped by state) in the first post. The thread is short now, but I imagine there will be many additions to the current information.

On that note, I am doing lots of research for my Michigan case(s), and will share any new sources of online information I can find.

[SingleDadJames]

Originally Posted by brawnylad

These should help out lots of folks. Way to go SDJ and antiquedave...

My only suggestion would be to consolidate all of the links (grouped by state) in the first post. The thread is short now, but I imagine there will be many additions to the current information.

I'm sure at some point in the future we'll need to do some housekeeping!

[nobk4me]

Ohio:


The Supreme Court of Ohio has established the Judicial eCademy site. It's intended for judges and magistrates and other court personnel, but supposedly its content will be available to the public.

http://judicialeacademy.ohio.gov/

[JDBStick]

Thanks for the Texas information. It will be a big help against Midland.

[Xcalibar]

Wow, this was a really great idea... I haven't been able to find a bench book for Ohio, has anyone run across one?

[skyshopper]

Woah, I think I hit the jackpot.
Took a verbatim phrase from one of the Michigan PDFs SDJames posted and did a search.
michigan civil < $25,000
I would suggest this exact phrase (include the dollar sign) when searching for any state. I got 90% .gov hits.