Thursday, May 14, 2015

Smart Forms – Helping the Self-Represented, Helping the Courts

One of the things that we teach here at the NCSC is that court internet web services need to be oriented to the user’s requirements. And, in turn control how information is presented for adjudication. Smart Forms provide one successful approach to address this need.



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Recently we received a press release from Intresys TurboCourt regarding the new Florida Domestic Violence victims system.  This is a very new project and so I wrote to them about that and previous efforts. They shared their good work in Multnomah County (Portland) Oregon.  In that TurboCourt system that is provided free by the court, they have a guided “smart forms” approach for:

  • Applying for a restraining order
  • Challenging a restraining order
  • Renewing a restraining order
  • Modifying a restraining order

TurboCourt Smart Forms have the benefit of being hosted on a national vendor supported website and therefore can be easily updated when the information or the resulting forms changes.  In addition, interactive guided forms have the benefit of not confusing self-represented users with text/fields that have no applicability in what they are trying to do.  This is a great weakness of paper and PDF forms that replicate the paper versions.  In other words, while these forms are designed to meet legal requirements, they don’t necessarily meet the user’s requirements very well.  For more on the Oregon system click here.




A good analogy is comparing the use of US paper tax forms versus using a software program like Intuit TurboTax.  There is really no comparison in ease of use because the web allows for smart interaction thus eliminating superfluous fields and information that are normal for paper forms no matter how much time or effort is expended.

Congratulations to our friends at Intresys and the Florida and Oregon courts for putting court user’s needs first.

1 comment:

  1. A Restraining order (also called a “protective order”) is a court order that can protect someone from being physically or sexually abused, threatened, stalked, or harassed. The person getting the restraining order is called the “protected person.” The person the restraining order is against is the “restrained person.” Sometimes, restraining orders include other “protected persons” like family or household members of the protected person.

    What does a restraining order do?
    In general restraining orders can include:

    Personal conduct orders
    These are orders to stop specific acts against everyone named in the restraining order as a “protected person.” Some of the things that the restrained person can be ordered to stop are:
    Contacting, calling, or sending any messages (including e-mail);
    Attacking, striking, or battering;
    Stalking;
    Threatening;
    Sexually assaulting;
    Harassing;
    Destroying personal property; or
    Disturbing the peace of the protected people.
    Stay-away orders
    These are orders to keep the restrained person a certain distance away (like 50 or 100 yards) from:
    The protected person or persons;
    Where the protected person lives;
    His or her place of work;
    His or her children’s schools or places of child care;
    His or her vehicle;
    Other important places where he or she goes.
    Residence exclusion (“kick-out” or “move-out”) orders
    These are orders telling the restrained person to move out from where the protected person lives and to take only clothing and personal belongings until the court hearing. These orders can only be asked for in domestic violence or elder or dependent adult abuse restraining order cases.
    For the person to be restrained, having a restraining order against him or her can have very serious consequences:

    He or she will not be able to go to certain places or to do certain things.
    He or she might have to move out of his or her home.
    It may affect his or her ability to see his or her children.
    He or she will generally not be able to own a gun. (And he or she will have to turn in, sell or store any guns they have now and not be able to buy a gun while the restraining order is in effect.)
    It may affect his or her immigration status if he or she is trying to get a green card or a visa.
    If the restrained person violates (breaks) the restraining order, he or she may go to jail, or pay a fine, or both.

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