Where can I find ABC type pro se advice?

[Sued-in-Texas]

I have managed to answer a lawsuit pro se but am so unfamiliar with court procedure I don't even know whether I should schedule a hearing on a motion to dismiss, etc. The court clerks won't answer the simplest questions, giving me a blanket, "I can't give legal advice."

Am in Travis County, Texas. Anyone know where I can go to get simple questions of court procedure answered? Thanks in advance for any help you can give!!!

[impudence]

Go here for local rules of procedure. http://www.co.travis.tx.us/county_courts/default.asp

Beyond that there is not much. You can check your local library, some have "idiots guide" books on the subject. I have not read these books so I can't tell you if they are any good.

Most important just ask here, and read the forums. There is a large amount of advice here.

Lastly, if you are in over your head then hire a lawyer.

[glarco]

You will also need the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. You can find them at any Law Library or even Public Library. Just ask the Librarian. This book will explain in legalees about summary judgement motions and discovery. This is most likely your next step. This website will also help.

http://trcp.freeservers.com/custom.html

[c m chase]

Someone mentioned to me that if you have a local law school nearby, go visit their library and start making nice with the students there, who would probably be inclined to put a little of their knowledge to actual use.

Good luck!

[Sued-in-Texas]

Unfortunately, hiring a lawyer is not a possibility. I will see if I can get any help from Legal Aid though.

It astounds me that there is so little help made available for people who must answer pro se due to economic limitations. It is a right, yet is one that is apparently given very grudgingly by the court system in most places (though I have heard that some courts in some jurisdictions actually have a pro se clerk -- BRAVO for them...!!!!)

I'm a single mom who is really having a hard time making ends meet, and spending time in a law library is something I really don't feel I have time to do -- just as I have not felt I have had time to go out with friends for most of the past ten years (except maybe 3 or 4 times a year). It just seems absolutely crazy to me that I can't get the answers to simple questions without spending the hours it takes to go to a library, and since I don't know the answers to the simplest questions I don't even know if I must needs be in a HURRY to go to a law library...argh....!

[glarco]

The important thing is you answered your lawsuit. Most Defendant's in these cases don't do that. The law library is still your best source for information at this point. Including finding a affordable attorney. Just tell the Librarian your situation and she can point you in the right direction. Legal Aid sounds like a good option for you and there may be some others. Maybe you can find some one to take your case pro bono. If you are given some kind of notice for a motion by the plaintiff, call, write or go see the judge and explain your situation. Most likely you will be granted some kind of continuance or extension of time.

[GreatGadsby]

It astounds me that there is so little help made available for people who must answer pro se due to economic limitations. It is a right, yet is one that is apparently given very grudgingly by the court system in most places (though I have heard that some courts in some jurisdictions actually have a pro se clerk -- BRAVO for them...!!!!)

it might be a right for criminal trials, but not for civil.

[Sued-in-Texas]

My goodness. I guess in this country money really does rule more than I knew. I should have thought pro se would be a right in all courts; otherwise a person could file lawsuits on someone just to harass them. Oh, but then I guess that's done all the time, right? ;)

I keep forgetting that court procedures were never (apparently) intended to be simple or for the layperson. In my mind I always consider the simple and the straightforward to be the obvious right way to do things. No wonder this law stuff has my head spinning.

Thanks for the advice. It's good to know I can contact the Judge somehow if I end up needing a continuance in order to get some counsel. The only reason I didn't go for Legal Aid before was that my experience as a poor person has always been that we are always made to wait weeks to months for anything that is "free." Now that I got my Answer filed I don't feel as pressed to hurry up and respond to the lawsuit, and if only I could get even a green student attorney to talk to me I feel I would get almost all the answers I need, as all my questions (it seems to me) are so fundamental.

One thing I can say, though: I can't count how many times I have felt, since this lawsuit came into my life, how very glad I am that I never went in for practicing law! It's so much like a chess game, and I never liked chess either.

The Texas Laws of Civil Procedure are available on the net. I have it book marked. You have to click on each number to read what that law says, and there are a lot of them, but I guess that means I just have to sit and click and read for a while, eh?

Thanks again for your comments. Much appreciated!

[Sued-in-Texas]

In case this may be of help to someone, I thought I should post this link.

I don't know if this is really the whole thing, but it looks like it may be:

http://www.lynchlawfirm.net/tx_discovery_rules_of_procedure_civil.htm

[GreatGadsby]

my bad, i thought you were saying legal representation being provided by the court was a right.... that's why I said in criminal, but not civil..... the option to defend oneself pro-se is your right in either.

[Kindrox]

The link above (freeservers) is good - less clicking than the link you posted. I know you are a single mom but if there is any way to obtain O'Connors Texas Rules - Civil Trials, you will find it worth its weight in gold. If you cannot buy one (I got mine used) see if you can beg, barrow or steal a copy.

[Sued-in-Texas]

Thanks y'all.

Okay, so if I go to a law library to look at O'Connor's rules, I just open it up and read everything that seems to apply to my case?

Oh, and I checked last night. I'm not poor enough for Legal Aid. For Legal Aid in Texas a family of four cannot make over $22,750 annually to be eligible. I'm just a family of two and I make that. I should not call myself poor. Yes, I'm always broke and it's hard to make the bills every month, but I live in a safe neighborhood and even have a car. A LOT of people are MUCH worse off than me...!!! (An individual to be eligible for Legal Aid in Texas can make an income of no more than $11,075.)

What I can't figure out is with the economy so bad why there aren't Geo Metros taking over the roads and communal living to rival the 60s and 70s! Shoot, back in 1971 a person with a part-time near-minimum-wage job as a sandwich maker could afford their own (humble) efficiency apartment, all bills paid. (I know because that's exactly what I did!) My salary was $2 an hour and I worked 20 hours a week; my apartment, which was quite small but furnished and in a decent neighborhood, was $80 a month all bills paid. Ah, the good ole days.

Thanks again for all the tips. Strangely enough, once I start reading those Texas rules I even find it halfway interesting.

[Kindrox]

O'Conner's book is a lengthy read and it won't answer all your questions (like scheduling hearings and the like) but it will do an execellent job of showing the required content of pleadings and motions, and the rules governing discovery, and just about every other paper you will send to the courthouse. It should give you confidence.

It will also tell you how to respond to motions and you can start to see flaws in thier work.

The simple stuff, like how to do hearings and such, you can pick up as you go.

[KentWA]

Here is a guide to Pro Se self help sites in each state:

http://www.ncsconline.org/WC/Publications/KIS_ProSeSelfHelpStLnks.pdf

[Sued-in-Texas]

The link they have for Texas actually doesn't offer any help to people unless their cases fit specific categories (which do not include debt collection), but I thank you for that and hopefully there will be good links for people in states other than Texas.

I'm doing better now, between several people from whom I got private messages I was able to put together what I should do next and I have actually succeeded in setting a hearing on my motion to dismiss. Amazing how it is. It's like a chess game with lots of rules, but the rules are not made too easily available -- yet they are out there. In the next weeks before the hearing I'll read up on the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure (which IS on the net), and O'Connors and Vernon's in law libraries.

It was a MAJOR de-stresser today to manage to set the hearing and know that I "did it right"...LOL.

[Kindrox]

You motivated me to get things going on posting organized examples. Here is what I have so far, I will be badgering others into posting as well.

http://www.artofcredit.com/board/showthread.php?t=19708

[Sued-in-Texas]

Thanks!

[ocn2000]

Texas could give two shits about making legal services accesible to it's citizens. In fact they do what they can to keep lay people in the dark. There was a court case about five years ago to ban the selling of legal self help books involving NOLO press. Texas is a pro big business/big goverment state, so you will find very little in the way of help in dealing with the court systems. In contrast New York and California seem to have very lay person friendly court systems. Those states even produce and distribte free booklets to help people navigate the legal sytem depending on what type of problem they have. You will not find any "legal aid" departments in Texas. Texas does not even have a public defender's office for indigents in criminal cases. They have a pro bono pool of lawyers whose names are picked to rep poor people in criminal cases. And to alot of people surprise, many of the justice of the peace (especially in rural areas) are not even lawyers and have little legal training!! Expect no help and a lot of bullshit to go pro se in Texas. Be prepared to educate the judge on the law and to appeal your case if the redneck asshole doesn't "get it" even after it has been explained to him and backed up with actual statutes and caselaw.

[Sued-in-Texas]

You're right, it's hard in Texas, but apparently not impossible. I actually found full free online access to STEVENSON'S TEXAS LEGAL PRACTICE FORMS online, which has been extremely helpful. Wish I would have found it a month ago, but still now that I have having to draft another 3 or 5 or 7 more pleadings it has been a lifesaver!

Got to have an Austin Library card to access it, though. I don't know if other libraries around the state have the same thing going on or not.

Legal Aid exists here, from what I have found, only for individuals who make LESS than $11,075 a year -- or families of four that make less than $22,750 a year. I am not poor enough for their services (which even then includes a small fee to most apparently -- $20 to $30 an hour). I'll never forget the day I decided I didn't like law. I was a legal secretary and the attorney I was working for referred to one of his clients as a "jerk" FOR NO OTHER REASON THAN THAT HE DIDN'T MAKE MUCH MORE THAN MINIMUM WAGE. I started realizing that a lot of people (not all, but a lot) in the field of law have contempt for those who don't make much money, and that sickens me -- especially since a lot of people who make the lowest hourly wages are quite literally the ones that WORK the hardest.

Don't get me started.

Anyhow, here is the link for the Austin Public Library. Those with a library card have to input their library card number to access the files:

You may access Stevenson's Legal Forms & Practice Guide for Texas either in the library or from elsewhere via the Internet. From the Austin Public Library homepage www.cityofaustin.org/library, click 'reference databases' in the left hand menu beside the photo. In the database page that appears, click 'legal forms (texas)' in the subject guide menu on the right side of the screen. On the next page describing the database, two links appear near the top, 'library access' for accessing from a library computer, and 'remote access' for using the database from a computer outside the library. You'll be prompted to enter an Austin Public Library card number if you click 'remote access.'

Once you've entered the database, at the lower left hand part of the screen, under 'jurisdiction', click 'State', then select 'Texas' on the next screen, and from the next screen choose 'Stevenson's Legal Forms & Practice Guide for Texas'. You can then search for specific wording either in the entire document, heading, or section text.

*****

By the way, I started reading through ALL of Stevenson's and found important information I would not have known to look for. I think the best thing to do if you're really going Pro Se is to sit there and click through each page and read every page except those you can tell right away definitely don't apply to your case. THANK YOU AUSTIN PUBLIC LIBRARY SYSTEM....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sued-in-Texas]

...the Stevenson's online has its limits. A lot of searches I did came up blank. It's not exhaustive at all and I got pretty confused for a while reading forms in the wrong categories.

Pro Se. Ain't we got fun.