Abstract:
A system and method for assisting self-represented litigants, their agents, or attorneys in completing legal forms for a variety of issues, namely, an interactive forms processing system and method comprising a rules-based, on-line question and answer session that determines the form or forms needed for a particular application, completes those forms consistently and accurately, and allows them to be printed and/or optionally filed in the appropriate court, over a wide area network such as the Internet or other TCP/IP transport.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/014,283, filed Dec. 16, 2004 and claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/529,989, entitled “INTERACTVE FORMS PROCESSING SYSTEM AND METHOD,” filed Dec. 16, 2003, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0002]    The present invention relates to systems and methods for processing forms and in particular to systems and methods for assisting self-represented litigants and attorneys complete legal forms. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    Each year thousands of individuals are required to institute legal proceedings in some form or another. Unfortunately, many such individuals do not have the financial ability to retain an attorney to act on their behalf. In other cases, individuals conclude they do not require an attorney to represent them. In either case, it is necessary for these individuals to proceed on a pro se basis. 
         [0004]    For the most part every court has its own procedures, forms and processes that it uses to conduct business. In addition, most courts have different forms and procedures depending on the type of legal proceeding at issue, i.e., a particular court will typically have different forms that are used for family court filings than are used for eviction proceedings, and so on. Often, even when the correct form is identified by an applicant, instructions for form completion are vague, nonexistent or difficult to understand, making form completion difficult. In addition, courts often have different requirements for payment of fees in terms of amount and in terms of the fees that must accompany particular filings. 
         [0005]    As a result, pro se applicants are faced with the daunting prospect of myriad forms and procedures when beginning, continuing or responding to the legal process, inevitably resulting in confusion and uncertainty. Accordingly, there is a need for a system that provides pro se litigants/applicants with a convenient and easy to understand procedure for completing the forms appropriate for a given situation and filing the forms in court. It would be desirable to provide a system in which an applicant would not need to see the form until it was completed. Such a system could be used by legal professionals as well. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    The invention comprises a system and method for assisting self-represented litigants, their agents, or attorneys in completing legal forms for a variety of issues. In particular, the present invention provides an interactive forms processing system and method comprising a rules-based, on-line question and answer session that determines the form or forms needed for a particular application, completes those forms consistently and accurately, and allows them to be printed and/or optionally filed in the appropriate court, over a wide area network such as the Internet or other TCP/IP transport. 
         [0007]    In other aspects of the present invention forms are prepared based on the rules and procedures of the court to comply with the acceptance and processing statues or rules of a given court. 
         [0008]    In another embodiment a system in accordance with the present invention is adapted to generate attachments in circumstances where a given form to be populated does not permit entry of data or allow sufficient space for entry of all information. 
         [0009]    In another embodiment the present invention provides data element validation and error checking preventing the entry of impossible or inconsistent data, such as but not limited to erroneous information such as a marriage date in the future, a birth date in the future, etc. 
         [0010]    Self-help center PCs or kiosks may also be employed. The present invention permits courts of all sizes to be more responsive and cost-efficient in handling pro-se filings. The present invention provides options to print the forms or e-deliver them directly to the court, allowing users to access the applications from any computer connected to the Internet or other TCP/IP transport. The invention enables courts to receive complete and accurate information right from the start of the filing process, leading to significant time savings at all stages, from initial to subsequent filing to court hearing, post hearing and order enforcement. The present invention can be employed in connection with any type of legal proceeding including but not limited to Family Law proceedings including Divorce, Separation, Child Custody, Child Support, Spousal Support, Visitation, Paternity, and corresponding Responses; Small claims proceedings including Plaintiffs Claim, Defendant&#39;s Counter-Claim; Landlord-Tenant proceedings including Eviction and Defendant&#39;s Response to Eviction; and Guardianship Probate including permanent and/or Temporary Guardianship of Minors and their Estates; Domestic Violence filings for injunctions, temporary restraining orders, extensions and terminations. The present invention relieves Customers from having to complete a complex series of interrelated forms, alleviates the burden on counter staff being tied up by assisting customers in this task, which typically averages 40 minutes to 2 hours per encounter and eliminates the possibility of placing court personnel in a position where they may be considered to be providing legal advice or not maintaining court&#39;s impartiality. It has been shown that the present invention reduced the assistance time required for customers an average of 55%. 
         [0011]    One embodiment of the present invention executes on a web client that is connected to a computer network such as the Internet. The web client, a standard browser such as Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator or Mozzilla FireFox is capable of obtaining web pages that contain questionnaires from a web server. The web server contains computer code configured to accept a web user&#39;s responses to a questionnaire and use the responses to select the appropriate court and the appropriate court form(s) and populate the form(s) with the information contained in the user&#39;s responses or generated by the system based on the data input. The completed form(s) can then be printed by the web client for subsequent filing in the appropriate court. In another embodiment, the web server contains communication software that enables the web client to file the completed form(s), attached documents and any filing or other appropriate fees with the appropriate court via the network. 
         [0012]    In a preferred embodiment, the information provided by a web user is stored on the web server for later use by the web client. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0013]      FIG. 1  discloses one embodiment of a system according to the present invention. 
           [0014]      FIG. 2  depicts a method in accordance with at least one aspect of the present invention. 
           [0015]      FIG. 3  depicts a process flow diagram in accordance with at least one aspect of the present invention. 
           [0016]      FIG. 4  depicts a process flow in accordance with at least one aspect of the present invention. 
           [0017]      FIG. 5  depicts a process flow in accordance with at least one aspect of the present invention. 
           [0018]      FIG. 6  depicts a process flow for payment in accordance with at least one aspect of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0019]    In the following description, for purposes of explanation, specific numbers, materials and configurations are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. It will be apparent, however, to one having ordinary skill in the art, that the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known features may be omitted or simplified so as not to obscure the present invention. Furthermore, reference in the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the invention. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. 
         [0020]    Now referring to  FIG. 1  a system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention comprises web server  20 , accessible via a client computer  10 , and optionally a court server  30  connected via a wide area network such as the Internet. In accordance with the present invention a client desiring to initiate or submit papers in connection with a litigation accesses a web page  40  via client computer  10  or other suitable device to begin the process of completing a legal form  50 . A client is typically a pro se litigant or attorney. Web page  40  may comprise plural pages containing a questionnaire that is completed by the client. In one embodiment web page  40  presents a client with a query requesting the state in which the litigation is to be conducted. Upon receiving the entry by the client, a software program, preferably residing on the web server  20 , presents a new web page  40  requesting the specific location of the court in the identified state. Court locations for the selected state are preferably presented to the client in the form of a drop down menu, interactive map or other suitable means. Upon receiving the entry for the location, web sever  20  presents a new web page to the client requesting entry of the type of matter to which the litigation relates such as but not limited to Family Law proceedings including Divorce, Separation, Child Custody, Child Support, Spousal Support, Visitation, Paternity, and corresponding Responses; Small Claims proceedings including Plaintiffs Claim, Defendant&#39;s Counter-Claim; Landlord-Tenant proceedings including Eviction and Defendant&#39;s Response to Eviction; and Guardianship Probate including permanent and/or Temporary Guardianship of Minors and their Estates; Domestic Violence filings for injunctions, temporary restraining orders, extensions and terminations and the like. Based on the type of proceeding selected by the client, the web server  20  presents a web page  40  containing a customized questionnaire adapted to populate the appropriate legal form(s)  50  for the particular action selected by the client. A database containing the information necessary for software controlling the transaction to identify the proper form(s)  50 , e.g., form identification data and the like, is preferably resident on web server  20 . Once the questionnaire is completed, the web server  20  generates a completed forms set that can be downloaded by client computer  10  via Adobe Acrobat PDF viewer or the like. In one embodiment the client can print the completed form(s)  50  and file the form(s)  50  manually in the appropriate court and pay any fee required such as a filing fee at that time. 
         [0021]    Examples of web pages  40  in accordance with the present invention are accessible to a client at the website www.TurboCourt.com, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
         [0022]    Alternatively, web server  20  presents a web page  40  to the client requesting whether the client wishes to file the form electronically. Upon request, web server  20  executes filing of the completed form  50  directly to court server  30 . In one embodiment the system further comprises an electronic payment server  60  provider enabling a client to submit any filing fees appropriate for a given form. Payment is preferably routed to the location  70  identified by the court for receiving filing fees. 
         [0023]    Alternatively fees can be routed to the court itself. An example of an electronic payment server includes a server operated by PayPal®. Regardless of the manner in which filings are made, i.e., manually or electronically, the case is preferably entered in a court case queue  80  and preferably entered in a court tracking system  90 . 
         [0024]    Now referring to  FIG. 2 , software in accordance with the present invention executes the steps of requesting the state in which a particular filing is to take place in step  100 , requesting the specific location of the court or jurisdiction in which the case is to be filed in step  110 , requesting the type of case to be filed in step  120 , presenting to the client a questionnaire appropriate for the type of case identified in step  130 , accessing the appropriate form from a database based on the answers provided in response to the questionnaire in step  140 , and populating the form with the data gathered from the client via the questionnaire in step  150 . In this way the client does not see the form until it is completed. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that software in accordance with the present invention may be written in XML, Java, HTML, C++ or any appropriate programming language suitable for the present invention. Preferably software in accordance with the present invention is written in XML, Java. 
         [0025]    In other aspects of the present invention forms are prepared based on the rules and procedures of the court to comply with the acceptance and processing statues or rules of a given court. 
         [0026]    In another embodiment a system in accordance with the present invention is adapted to generate attachments in circumstances where a given form to be populated does not permit entry of data or allow sufficient space for entry of all information. For example, a given form may allow enough space to enter 2 children names; in this event, a system in accordance with the present invention will generate an attachment containing overflow information, i.e., any additional children names beyond what will fit in the two spaces allotted, from the form having the insufficient space. The attachment preferably contains a reference to the form to which it is related. 
         [0027]    In another embodiment the present invention provides data element validation and error checking preventing the entry of impossible or inconsistent data, such as but not limited to erroneous information such as a marriage date in the future, a birth date in the future, etc. In one embodiment upon completion of the questionnaire the client is asked to “Validate Form” and the system checks the questionnaire for impossible or inconsistent data. The client is asked to re-enter information to overcome the inconsistency or impossibility. In yet another embodiment, the data element validation and error checking is performed automatically, wherein for example if a client enters inconsistent information the system presents an error message noting the inconsistency. 
         [0028]    Now referring to  FIG. 3 , in another embodiment a method is depicted employing a court maintained website. After logging onto a court maintained website, in the case initiation phase the client starts  200  the questionnaire, saves or retrieves  210  the data, depending on whether the client has already begun the questionnaire and is returning to it or is starting a new filing, and optionally stores  220  the data for later retrieval. In the case delivery phase, the client submits  250  to the court electronically the form generated as a result of completion of the questionnaire, which form is transferred  260  to a court server, and the client pays  230  the appropriate fees wherein the fees are transferred  240  to the court electronically. Receipts for fees and form filing are generated and sent  270 ,  280 ,  290 ,  300  to the client computer. In the case acceptance phase, the case submitted to the court server and routed to the court database is accepted  310  and a case number is assigned, and/or is printed and manually entered  320 ,  330  in the court case management system. Upon assignment of a case number, confirmation of filing is routed  340 ,  350  to the client. In the case processing phase, after entering the case management system, the court routes confirmation of a hearing date, if appropriate, to the client  360 ,  370 . 
         [0029]    Now referring to  FIG. 4  in one embodiment web pages according to the present invention provide a client with several options when accessing a web server, including creating  400  a new user profile, wherein a client is requested to provide data such as but not limited to name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, log in information such as password and security questions and whether the client is a public entity. The data is stored in a user data database  415 . Maintaining  410  a user profile permits a client to change or add user data. Clients are enabled through the web page to receive correspondence and notifications  420 , where a client elects to receive emails from the server containing communications and confirmation data  425 , check case status and notes  430  including acknowledgement  435  of court confirmations stored in the user access history database  440  and retrieve and print  445  submitted forms stored in a filings data database  450 . 
         [0030]    Now referring to  FIG. 5 , in one embodiment a client accesses a server via a website (not shown) and chooses to either start or continue a questionnaire  500  or review a filing  520 . Client saves or retrieves  510  personal data from user file  415 , preferably encrypted in accordance with encryption methods known to those having skill in the art. Upon completion of the questionnaire, the client is offered the opportunity to review  520  the filing and asked whether the client is ready  530  to submit the populated form. If not, the client returns to the questionnaire step  500 . In one embodiment, a system in accordance with the present invention provides different fee structures for different types of clients. For example, in one embodiment at the step  530  where the client is ready to submit the form, the system asks the client if it is a public agency in step  540 ; if so, the system requests the agency to log in  550  and optionally provide a code identifying the filer as a public agency. In such an event the public agency may or may not be required to pay a fee, or may be entitled to pay a reduced fee. If the client is not a public agency, the system queries the client whether it is a first time user  560 ; if so, the client is requested to register  580  and provide new user identification information such as user name and password; if not, the client can log in  570  using previously registered user identification information. The client then accesses a fee payment area  590  of the website and submits the filing  600 . The filing is stored in the filings data database  450  and forwarded to the court where it is retrieved and accepted or rejected  640 . The filing is also stored in the communications/notes database  425 . If the client has previously requested that it receive e-mail communications  610 , e-mail correspondence such as confirmation of filing will be transmitted  620  to the client. If the client has not elected to receive e-mail correspondence, the client can log in  630  to the website to review filing information  520 . 
         [0031]    Now referring to  FIG. 6 , methods of payment in accordance with the present invention are depicted. A client pays fees  80  either manually  81  or electronically  83  through an electronic payment service which processes and validates payment  84  and indicates whether payment is accepted  86  and issues a receipt  82 . The client is then advised whether payment was successful  88 ,  90 ,  92 . The electronic payment service provides payment reports  94  to the system so the court can review and reconcile  96  such payments with client filings. 
         [0032]    Preferred embodiments of the instant invention operate on a network, such as, for example, the Internet, or another type of remote access system, such as a kiosk-based terminal, a telephone, a personal digital assistant, a pulse code system, web TV, or any other device or method that communicates alpha numeric data through a server. 
         [0033]    Preferred embodiments of the instant invention operate in accordance with a plurality of networked computers, such as, for example, a user computer and a server computer which are coupled together on a communications network, such as, for example, the Internet or a wide area network. Network communication hardware that operates to implement preferred embodiments of the invention includes a server computer  20  and a client computer terminal  10 , wherein server computer  20  and user computer  10  are in electronic communication with each other via a network  17 . Network  17  may be a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), or the Internet, and is hardwired, wireless, or a hybrid thereof. 
         [0034]    In some preferred embodiments, network communication hardware  10  includes a plurality of either servers, client computers, or any combination thereof. Server  20  incorporates a memory device from which information and other relevant data is accessible to client computer  10 . It will be understood that network systems in accordance with various embodiments can include more than two servers  20 . 
         [0035]    Server computer  20  comprises any suitable network-connectable device capable of providing content (data representing text, hypertext, photographs, graphics, video and/or audio) for communication over network  17 . In preferred embodiments, server computer  20  is a programmable processor capable of operating in accordance with programs stored on one or more of computer readable media (for example, but not limited to, floppy disks, hard disks, random access memory RAM, CD-ROM, ZIP disks), to provide content for communication to a connected client computer  10 . Server computer  20  comprises, for example, but is not limited to, a personal computer, a mainframe computer, network computer, portable computer, personal digital assistant (such as, a 3Com Palm Pilot), or the like. The server computer  20  may include one or more internal data storage devices, e.g. a hard drive (not shown), for storing content for communication to a client computer  10 . Alternatively, or in addition, server computer  20  is coupled to an external data storage device, computer or other means, from which server computer  20  obtains information for communication to client computer  10 . In one embodiment, such external device comprises at least one further network device coupled to network  17 . Server computer  20  is controlled by suitable software to provide requested content information to the requesting client computer  10 , provided that various criteria are met. 
         [0036]    In a preferred WAN environment, such as the Internet, server computer  20  is controlled by software adapted to generate a response to a valid request for content information by transmitting or downloading data in the form of one or more HTML files to a requesting client computer  10 . It will be understood by those skilled in the art that this process involves communication through routers and other network components in addition to suitable servers, as is dictated by the particular network environment. 
         [0037]    Client computer  10  comprises any suitable network-adapted device capable of communicating with other devices in the network system according to an established protocol. In preferred embodiments, client computer  10  comprises a programmable processor capable of operating in accordance with programs stored on one or more computer readable media (for example, but not limited to floppy disk, hard disk, computer network, random access memory (RAM), CD Rom, ZIP disks, or the like). Client computer  10  also has a display device for providing a user-perceivable display (for example, but not limited to visual displays, such as cathode ray tube (CRT) displays, light-emitting-diode (LED) or liquid-crystal-diode (LCD) displays, plasma displays or the like, audio displays or tactile displays), and a user input device (for example, but not limited to, a keyboard, mouse, trackball, touch pad, microphone, or the like). In one preferred embodiment, client computer  10  comprises a personal computer system having a CRT display, a keyboard and a mouse user-input device. 
         [0038]    The client computer  10  is controlled by suitable software, including network communication and browser software to allow a user to request, receive and display information (or content) from or through a server computer  20  on the network  17 . The client computer  10  is any means capable of communicating with the server computer(s)  20 , including, but not limited, to personal computers, PDAs, email-enabled cell phones and ATM-type terminals. Client computer  10  accesses server computer(s)  20  via network  17  or through some other remote access, such as, for example, by telephone lines. 
         [0039]    While the preferred embodiments have been described and illustrated it will be understood that changes in details and obvious undisclosed variations might be made without departing from the spirit and principle of the invention and therefore the scope of the invention is not to be construed as limited to the preferred embodiment.