Legal Forms Online

By Rob Reagan | November 22, 2009

Patrons, almost daily, will come into the library and ask for books on legal forms for a variety of topics. While information on legal forms is always available in the collection, it is much easier to access legal forms from your home computer and pull up the material you need without a trip to the library.

Rapid City Public Library invites you to try the most extensive legal forms site available to library patrons. Gale Legal Forms has thousands of legal forms available with more forms being added. You will find official, state specific, federal, business, personal, real estate, tax and general forms covering hundreds of legal subjects and issues. Forms available on Gale Legal Forms include forms drafted by attorneys for a particular legal matter, forms from public records and forms from participating companies and attorneys.

Basic/Standard forms provided on this site cover the following categories: (1) Real Estate, (2) Leases, (3) Corporations, (4) Employment, (5) Wills, (6) Sale of Property, (7) Loans & Financing and (8) Other Business Forms. Basic or standard forms can generally be used with minor modification and are sometimes referred to as "fill in the blank." However, many of these types of forms differ from state to state. Therefore, choosing the correct standard form is important.

General Business Forms are forms, which may be used in all 50 states with little modification. General Litigation Forms are various litigation forms covering many diverse causes of action. These forms are easily modified by Attorneys to apply in their state. State Specific Forms are forms provided by Participating Attorneys, form companies or forms specifically adapted to a particular state. Federal Forms are business and litigation forms used in the Federal system. The Department of Revenue and Regulation link is useful for vehicle forms such as: bill of sale, mobile home move, transport tags, etc.  The Legal Terms Dictionary is a comprehensive source for legal terms and legal definitions.

There are four ways to search the database: Alphabet, Main Categories, Keyword and Sample Searches. If you know what form you are looking for the alphabet search is the fastest, but if you are not exactly sure what form you need, the sample searches are really helpful. Once a main topic is chosen it will breakdown the forms into state specific and subject specific. As an example, there are 80 divorce forms alone. There is not an option to narrow your search. You have to scroll through until you find the form that matches your particular needs.

All documents are available in Microsoft Word format and are generally setup to be “fill in the blank.” Some forms also have a description that will help you decide if the form is right for your situation and if so, how to fill it out. In addition, some forms have an example form filled out for you to use as a guide. There are a number of options for retaining the documents. They can be saved locally on to a disk, e-mailed as an attachment or printed.

Gale Legal Forms is accessible through the Rapid City Public Library website, www.rapidcitylibrary.org. Click on the “Databases” tab at the top of the page then scroll down to the “Legal Forms Database” heading and click on it. Once in the database list, you will find the database under Thompson Gale Legal forms. The database is available locally (in the library) and remotely by using your library log in.

This is just another example of the many resources available to you through the Rapid City Public Library. Please remember that these forms are not a substitute for legal advice, but are available to assist you in your legal and business affairs.