The Complete Book of Personal Legal Forms - Softcover

Sitarz, Daniel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0935755926 ISBN 13: 9780935755923

Publisher: Nova Pub Co, 2001

Synopsis

The revised and updated 3rd edition of this comprehensive legal handbook contains all of the forms and instructions necessary to handle the personal legal needs of most individuals and families, from wills and trusts to contracts and real estate forms.

About this title

From Booklist

As society becomes more litigious and laypeople are increasingly concerned with "do-it-yourself" or "self-help" law, they turn to local public libraries for assistance with legal problems. The Complete Book of Personal Legal Forms, while no substitute for an attorney, provides samples of more than 100 routine legal forms for use by individuals. (Another title by the same author, The Complete Book of Small Business Legal Forms, may be of value for the small businessperson.)

Included are forms for contracts, signatures and notary acknowledgements, powers of attorney (including a durable power of attorney), wills, living wills (although no form provides for organ donation), living trusts, premarital agreements, marital-settlement agreements, releases, receipts, real estate leases, personal property rental, sale of personal property and real estate, personal loans, promissory notes, collection documents, and miscellaneous business documents. A brief glossary explains legal terms.

Each chapter begins with a discussion of the topic, when the forms should be used, what information should be included in each form, and a brief description of individual forms. Detailed questionnaires are designed to elicit responses to aid in completing the forms. The author makes it clear that the forms and questionnaires should be photocopied, completed in draft, and then typed--a process that should prevent mutilation by library users. Sitarz avoids using legalese; he also points out when a user may require legal assistance.

Sitarz offers a clear, yet concise, discussion of community property in the chapter on marital-settlement agreements. It would have been useful if there were a reference to this discussion in the index, which refers users only to the forms and not to legal concepts or issues (e.g., guardianship, which is discussed in the chapter on wills).

Nolo Press' Law Form Kit series has separate collections of forms on loans, contracts, wills, etc., and the Consumer Law Foundation's Complete Legal Kit (Running Press, 1988) contains 150 forms. The Complete Book of Personal Legal Forms is an adequate addition to the self-help legal literature for libraries that need to strengthen their collections in this area. It is easier to use than Instant Legal Forms by Ralph E. Troisi (TAB, 1989).

Edition details

• Publisher: Nova Pub Co
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0935755926
• ISBN 13: 9780935755923
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 256