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In my county, it is rather hard to find some forms. Furthermore, the clerk's office does not provide one with forms nor do they direct one towards forms. The only resources that I know of are some online websites that try to help, but which still lack several forms.

In other counties like this, how does one go about getting forms?

Is it fine to just draft your own form with the correct information and submit it to court?

Examples of forms. (1) A request for subpoena in a civil case. (2) A request for a leave of court in a civil case. (3) A request for mediation in a civil case. (4) A general (pro se) motion form for a civil case.

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    It depends on what the form is.
    – bdb484
    Nov 10, 2022 at 18:30
  • @bdb484 I'll edit my post to give examples.
    – alsdkfj243sf
    Nov 10, 2022 at 18:43

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those examples usually aren't forms

Without knowing the exact Jurisdiction, it is impossible to identify if such forms even exist. In general, forms are often for very specific things, like the witness-form on the back of a traffic ticket to identify the driver of a car you own.

However, most of those examples from the question, especially a request for leave, mediation or to appear pro-se, are done by filing with the court, at least in most jurisdictions. Such a filing has to follow some guidelines (usually, it needs to identify what case it belongs to and who is filing as well as some other formalities, such as being signed), but it is generally not a form.

Subpoenas can exist as a form, but they also can require a full filing (esp. for requesting ex-parte to identify identities of John Does), so I'd tentatively say, they are "so-so".

The Formatting guidelines for a filing might be acquired from the clerk of court or a court's website.

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  • To clarify, these things are usually written in a letter style format with a reasonable header that identifies the court and so on?
    – alsdkfj243sf
    Nov 10, 2022 at 19:45
  • Yes, at timkes that letter format is explicitly fixed in the rules of court. E.g. Almost all US court filings look the same on the front page. Often that formating guideline can be acquired at the court.
    – Trish
    Nov 10, 2022 at 20:04
  • In my experience, it's normal for courts (in America, at least) to provide a form for a civil subpoena. I'd agree that the others are typically done by motion, which I don't usually see done using a court-provided template.
    – bdb484
    Nov 10, 2022 at 20:06
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    Note also that if you aren't able to figure out how to navigate practice rules like these without the Internet's help, it would be uncommon if you were able to successfully navigate the much more complicated substantive, procedural, and evidentiary rules. Find a lawyer if you can.
    – bdb484
    Nov 10, 2022 at 20:08
  • @bdb484 Subpoenas... those can depend, indeed. Adressed.
    – Trish
    Nov 10, 2022 at 20:13

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