The Massachusetts Probate and Family Court, together with the Massachusetts Justice Project and others, today announced the launch of an online resource designed to help self-represented litigants more easily complete court forms in Massachusetts child support cases.

MALawHelp

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The free site uses a series of online interviews to help self-represented litigants complete the court forms needed to file cases seeking establishment, enforcement or modification of a child support order, or an answer to a complaint seeking any of these orders. The system guides users through a series of questions, and the answers to the questions are used to prepare forms and instructions.

The site includes several videos and articles to help users better understand the child support process. A Spanish translation of the interviews will be available this summer.

The site was funded with the help of a Technology Initiative Grant from the Legal Services Corporation and launched with assistance from the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, South Coastal Counties Legal Services and the Trial Court Access to Justice Initiative.

The system uses the LawHelp Interactive platform, which was developed by Pro Bono Net. It uses a donated version of HotDocs document-assembly software and A2J Author, a tool for creating guided interviews that was developed by Chicago-Kent College of Law’s Center for Access to Justice and Technology and the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction.

Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.