What are Easy Forms?

Easy Forms ask you questions to create legal forms. These forms can be court forms, letters, or other legal documents. Easy Forms guide you through a simple interview. You answer questions, and the program does all the work.

Easy Forms:

  • Help you determine if these are the right forms,
  • Ask only the questions you need to answer, and
  • Put your answers in all the right places on the forms.

How do Easy Forms work?

On any Easy Form page, click the Start program button.

Image of button labeled "Start program."

Illinois Legal Aid Online has two types of Easy Forms: Docassemble and LawHelp Interactive.

Docassemble Easy Forms

When you start some Easy Forms, you may see a Docassemble screen like this.

Screenshot of E-filing exemption Easy Form

To begin making your forms:

  • Click the Next button to start right away, or
  • Sign in or create an ILAO Easy Form account to save your progress.

LawHelp Interactive Easy Forms

When you start other Easy Forms, you may see a LawHelp Interactive screen like this.

Screenshot of LawHelp Interactive start page

To begin making your forms:

  • Start as a Guest to start right away, or
  • Create Account or Log in to save your progress.

Follow the program instructions and answer questions. When you finish, you can download or email your forms.

How do I find Easy Forms?

There are a few ways you can find Easy Forms. You can:

If the form is not on Illinois Legal Aid Online, you can suggest a form. Just contact us.

How do I get completed Easy Forms?

At the end of the program, you will see a screen where you can:

  • Download your forms
  • Email your forms

How do I save my Easy Form answers?

Easy Forms do not save your answers automatically. To save your answers for later, you must log in so the answers are saved to your private account.

Docassemble Easy Forms can save your answers as you go if you have an account. Just be sure you are logged in.

Law Help Interactive Easy Forms let you save answers at the end of the program. You will need to log in to save your answers.

How do I get my saved Easy Forms?

Docassemble Easy Forms

  1. Reopen any Easy Form or go to ILAO Easy Forms.
  2. Log in to your ILAO Easy Forms account. If you are already logged in, click on your email address in the upper right-hand corner. Click My Easy Forms in the dropdown menu.
  3. Select the saved Easy Form from the list.
  4. Continue through the Easy Form until you reach the Download screen.
  5. Easy Forms make more than one form. Click Download to get them one at a time, or click Download all to download all your forms. You can click Send to have them emailed to you.

Note: Docassemble Easy Forms are deleted after 90 days of inactivity. Resume the saved Easy Form to reset the activity timer.

LawHelp Interactive Easy Forms

  1. Go to LawHelp Interactive.
  2. Log in to your LHI account.
  3. Click My Answers.
  4. Click Saved Answers.
  5. Follow the instructions on the screen. The most common tasks are:
    • Get Forms - Download a set of forms using your answers.
    • Open Interview - Run the Easy Form program again with your answers already entered.
    • Email forms / documents - Email a set of your forms to yourself.

Note: LHI Easy Forms are deleted after 180 days of inactivity. Open the Easy Form interview to reset the activity timer.

How do I e-file Easy Forms?

At this time, only the Appearance with e-filing Easy Form is connected to the Illinois e-filing system. We are hoping to add this feature to more Easy Forms in the future. For all other forms, you can download your forms and e-file them through an Electronic Filing Service Provider.

Check with the court clerk where you are filing your forms to find out if e-filing is required. You might be able to request an e-filing exemption.

Note when e-filing LawHelp Interactive Easy Forms: If the Easy Form program asks how you want to get your forms, select Separate PDFs if you want to e-file them. Separate PDFs are ready for e-filing. Do not e-file the PDF PACKET. The PDF PACKET will be rejected by the court clerk.

What if an Easy Form is unavailable?

We will post a warning on the website if there is an outage due to maintenance or if there is a service interruption. If you do not see anything about an outage, please contact us. We can often direct you to other resources while we work on the issue.

How do I suggest a form?

If a form is not on Illinois Legal Aid Online, and you think it should be, you can suggest a form. Just contact us. We review and evaluate all form suggestions.

How do I report Easy Forms problems?

Docassemble Easy Forms

While you are using the program, click Let us know at the bottom of each screen. At the end of the program, use the Was this form helpful? button on the download page.

LawHelp Interactive Easy Forms

While you are using the program, use the SEND FEEDBACK button if it is visible. At the end of the program, use the Was This Form Helpful? button on the LawHelp Interactive download page.

At any time, or if an Easy Form program does not start, just contact us.

Frequently asked questions