Buyer Beware - Do Your Research Before Paying for Court Forms
The Utah State Courts' website - www.utcourts.gov - provides a wealth of information and free forms.
Library staff feel terrible when patrons tell us they paid hundreds of dollars for divorce papers when we know they could have completed the paperwork using the courts' website. We feel even worse when they are told that their papers aren't sufficient. Before you pay for online forms, check our website to see whether a free, court-approved form is available.
Some of the forms provided on our website are fill-in-the-blank. You can either print a PDF version and neatly handwrite the information, or you can use the Word (in some cases WordPerfect) version and type the information. Remember, however, that there is not a form available for every situation. You may have to draft your own pleadings.
Our website also offers the Online Court Assistance Program (OCAP), which guides you through a series of questions and generates a packet of papers that you file with the court. While there is a $20 fee to file papers generated with the program, OCAP is otherwise free to use and is designed to be user-friendly. OCAP is available for these common court case types:
- Divorce
- Parentage (child custody, support and visitation, and paternity issues, but not as part of a divorce case)
- Landlord-tenant (for both the landlord starting eviction proceedings, and the tenant responding to an eviction case)
- Guardianship of a minor
- Protective orders
- Civil stalking
Helpful Resources