Fayetteville library offers cardholders free online access to legal forms

Patrons exit the Fayetteville Public Library Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016, beneath a sign thanking voters after a special election which raised the millage rate to support the library's operations and a planned expansion.
Patrons exit the Fayetteville Public Library Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016, beneath a sign thanking voters after a special election which raised the millage rate to support the library's operations and a planned expansion.

FAYETTEVILLE -- The city's library has added a free service for people seeking basic legal documents to the growing list of expanded operations paid for through the millage increase voters approved in August.

LawDepot, an online legal form service, became available to Fayetteville Public Library cardholders last week. The service is free. Users can go online at home or at the library, provide some basic information, and print or download an array of documents.

State-specific documents include bills of sale, wills, powers of attorney, leases, lease notices, promissory notes, prenuptial agreements, sales and service agreements and hundreds more, according to a library news release.

The service makes accessible a resource that residents might not otherwise be able to afford, said Willow Fitzgibbon, director of library services. Library staff members also will be on hand to help people fill out the forms.

"We can help with using the database, but we cannot provide legal answers," she said, adding that users should know which legal document they need before heading to the library.

The Central Arkansas Library System in Little Rock offers Westlaw, an online legal research service, at all of its libraries. North Little Rock's William F. Laman Library System doesn't offer an online legal service but has considered adding LawDepot, "possibly next year," a library system spokesman said.

The Bentonville Public Library has offered LawDepot for free since last fall, replacing another legal form program. The Rogers Public Library has Gale Legal Forms, which offers many of the same types of documents as LawDepot and a directory of lawyers in the state.

LawDepot is part of a bundled database subscription service that Fayetteville's library pays for with its operating millage. In August, voters approved an additional 1.5 mills toward operation and maintenance costs and 1.2 mills for its expansion. The construction bonds will be issued later this summer, while the library is currently using millage for operations to expand services, said Stephen Davis, the library's accounting director.

Rick Woods, a lawyer with Taylor Law Partners in Fayetteville, cautioned residents to be mindful when using a service such as LawDepot. He recommended using Arkansas Legal Services, a nonprofit service that provides free civil legal assistance to low-income Arkansans.

"My guess is that these are forms that probably were developed by lawyers. I don't have much doubt about that," Woods said. "They are generic, and they probably work for most small issues. I mean, they're probably not for complicated issues. But if there are any tangential issues, these won't cover them, and there's nobody responsible for that."

In-house lawyers developed all of LawDepot's documents, which are regularly updated to ensure accuracy, according to the news release. A spokesman for the company said LawDepot has partnered with more than 100 libraries to provide the free service, which otherwise has prices ranging from $7.50 to $39 per document or $95.88 for yearlong service.

The purpose of LawDepot isn't to serve as a replacement for a legal service but to provide legal forms at a lower cost or for free through libraries, spokesman Narissa Ramji said.

"When there is some complicated situations, we would recommend approaching a lawyer at that point for those questions you might have," she said.

Woods acknowledged that there is an affordability gap needing to be addressed.

"Some people can't afford to hire a lawyer, and this is their attempt to try and give them some sort of access to legal documents. We have Medicare, but we don't have 'Judicare,'" he said. "It's a sad commentary on life that there's no emphasis placed by anyone on access to legal services."

Information for this article was contributed by Jake Sandlin of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Metro on 06/16/2017

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