Libraries

McDONOUGH COUNTY ILLINOIS LEGAL AID ONLINE

More and more people are going to court without a lawyer because they cannot afford to hire one. And many times, organizations that provide free or reduced-fee legal services are not able to provide representation because those organizations do not have enough attorneys to take every case. While the legal information found on the Illinois Legal Aid Online web pages is not an adequate substitute for representation by a qualified attorney, it does provide some excellent resources to help people through an often confusing process. Illinois Legal Aid Online provides access to legal articles, automated legal forms, a complete library of self-help materials, and an online site navigator. For those who do not have access to a computer, McDonough County has Illinois Legal Aid Online Self-Help Centers where one can go to use a computer. The Government, Legal, Spatial and Data Services Unit, located on the 4th floor of the Malpass Library at Western Illinois University, is one of those Self-Help Centers. Library staff cannot give out legal advice or do legal research for you. However, they can assist you in using a computer to access the Illinois Legal Aid Online Self-Help legal materials.

NOTE: Legals forms must be filed electronically starting October 1, 2017.
See 9th Judicial Circuit Court website for details and downloadable forms.
Resources for Self-Represented Litigants
  • This site from the Illinois Supreme Court also includes some good general information on e-filing legal forms.
http://www.illinoislegalaid.org/
The Illinois Legal Aid Online home page; a user types in a legal topic such as "divorce" and their zip code to get started.
https://www.illinoislegalaid.org/get-legal-help/lshc-directory
a directory of current Illinois Legal Aid Online participating counties and their Self-Help Centers.
Ninth Judicial Circuit Forms
Listing of some of the more commonly used forms.
Illinois Legal Aid Online Form Library
Forms are organized by subject.