This month our featured database is Thomson/Gale Legal Forms. This is a collection of several thousand New York State and multi-state legal forms addressing most common areas of law, including bankruptcy, bill of sale, contracts, divorce, landlord/tenant, living wills, power of attorney, real estate, last will and testament, and more. The best part is that you can open up the forms in most word processors on your computer, fill them in online, and then print them out.
The library provides this database for informational purposes only. Please consult an attorney for serious legal matters.
Thomson/Gale Legal Forms is available for use in the library, or for Patchogue-Medford residents, from home with their library card barcode number.
Access Thomson/Gale Legal Forms directly or see a listing of all of our online databases.
Don't forget to try our previous featured databases:
Novelist for finding a great book to read
Morningstar.com Library Edition for investors
P4A Antiques Reference Database for antiques collectors
Caution -- The library provides this database for informational purposes only. Please consult an attorney for serious legal matters.
Go to Thomson/Gale Legal Forms. If outside the library, you will be prompted to enter your Patchogue-Medford Library card barcode. The home page of Thomson/Gale Legal Forms includes both browsing and searching features.
Selected Legal Form Areas includes some of the more frequently requested forms and categories that can be browsed through.
A Most Popular section on the left side of the page includes the most requested categories in the database, such as bankruptcy, name change, power of attorney, and wills.
Click on one of the category areas listed to see if the form you want is included.
If you do not see your form or category listed on the main page, try using the search feature in the upper left corner of the page. You can search for either form categories or specific titles. Form categories, such as "real estate" or "wills" can have many hundreds of forms in them, so it is best to search by title.
It may be helpful to consult a legal reference source, such as the database's included Legal Definitions dictionary, or one of the many legal reference sources the library owns, to help you clarify your search and choose the most precise terms to search on.
When searching try to be as specific as possible. If you want to find forms for deeds, search on "deed," rather than real estate. However, even deeds may have many forms listed, so it is best to be as specific as possible and search on "warranty deed" or "deed of trust" to narrow your search down to the most specific form for your needs. Some categories can contain several dozen or more forms, so you may have to do some browsing.
When searching, do not enclose terms in quotes or use operators such as and, or, not. Searching on the singular form of a term will find plural versions of the term. So for example, searching on lease will find forms with the word leases in them as well.
Click on the title of a listed form to see the available format options.
Depending upon the particular form you choose, it may be available in one or more formats:
Click on the desired format, which should then open up in your computer.
The form, if it is in a word processing format, can then be filled in online, saved on your computer, and printed.
Legal Definitions contains an online law dictionary, containing several hundred legal definitions, that is browseable by letter or searchable by term. Many of the definitions include a list of legal forms that are appropriate to use for that particular circumstance. If you are searching for a term that is not listed, you can even request a definition be sent to you, by clicking on the "Request a Legal Definition" link.
Attorney Directory contains a directory of lawyers and law firms arranged by state and then practice area. Attorneys listed are not endorsed or recommended by the Patchogue-Medford Library or Thomson/Gale and all listings are provided for informational purposes only. All attorneys listed are independent practicioners. Attorneys can include themselves in the database, after verification of their information by Thomson/Gale, so the list should not be thought of as a "best" attorney listing in any particular field.
This page was last updated on February 27, 2006.