- Feb 28

Gale Legal Forms 📝

Everyone knows that the library is a great place to borrow books and movies completely free. Did you know you can also access legal documents for free? On our website, we have a link to Gale LegalForms, a database of legal documents for the state of Ohio.

Before you get started, please keep in mind that staff cannot give you recommendations on forms or any legal advice. You'll have to know what type of form you are looking for. We'd be happy to help you print out a document once you have it pulled up, though!

To find the link, hover over "Online Resources" under the library logo on our website. From there, you can click "Resources A to Z" and scroll to "Legal Forms" or click on "Resources by Subject," "Do-it-Yourself," then "Legal Forms."

Once on LegalForms, you'll see a menu on the left-hand side. There are a few different resources the site provides such as Legal Definitions, Law Digest, and Legal Q&A. You can also look through a directory of attorneys by state.

If you click on "Legal Definitions" you can browse through legal terms alphabetically or by using the search feature. Depending on the term, it will give you a brief or more comprehensive definition of what it means within the legal system.

With "Law Digest" you can search the same way for identifying points of law from reported cases. The definitions come from Gale Encyclopedia of American Law; a dictionary of legal terms, cases index, and general index.

"Legal Q&A" features sample questions for various states. The site advises that you should use these answers for information purposes only. Keep in mind that different states may have different laws. The answers are legal information and not advice.

You can also look through their directory of attorneys by state. There is a brief header once you click on your state explaining when you might need a lawyer. Under that you can browse by what type of lawyer you need. Keep in mind: the lawyers listed are not endorsed by Gale, they simply provide the information of independent practitioners. Attorneys can request to be added to the list via a contact form. As with anything, doing research on what you need that fits within your budget is recommended.

As for the forms, there are a few ways to browse. First, on the main page, you can look at the main categories. You can also search alphabetically by category. Both will take you to a page with forms that fall under that particular category. On the left-hand side of the main page, there is a menu of the most popular searches. This includes forms you can complete online and sample letters.

When you find the form you're looking for, you'll be taken to a page similar to this:

The page gives you a definition of the form as well as a preview.

If you think you have the correct form, you can click on the "MS Word" version of the documents to download a copy to open up in Microsoft Word. From Word, you can print and fill out according to the form. As you're looking through the forms, you'll notice that many forms have a Spanish version as well as a Spanish & English version.