Site offers self-help legal aid

Lisa Colpoys, Executive Director of Illinois Legal Aid Online, talks about the McHenry County Self-Help Center website during a presentation on Friday at the McHenry County Government Center in Woodstock. The site is located at http://mchenry.illinoislegalaid.org. (Travis Haughton photo)

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WOODSTOCK – Citizens representing themselves in court sometimes file paperwork that might as well have been written on the back of a napkin.

It’s frustrating for them, and it can be frustrating for judges, Chief Judge Michael Sullivan said.

But a new legal self-help center can generate documents and provide guidance on basic legal matters for those who can’t afford an attorney or don’t want to hire one.

McHenry County residents can access the information online at http://mchenry.illinoislegalaid.org.

Computers and a printer are available from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays in the county’s law library, which is on the third floor of the McHenry County Government Center. A navigator will be on hand those days from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to help with site use.

The center, which formally opened Friday, is the 12th one that Illinois Legal Aid Online has opened since May 2007. Some sections allow users to create documents by answering basic questions, said Lisa Colpoys, executive director of the legal aid group.

“It’s really using technology to make the process a little bit easier,” Colpoys said.

The site offers detailed information on orders of protection, evictions, divorce, small-claims court, and child-support payments. Users can search for information on other legal matters, and leaders plan to add a section on mortgage foreclosure to the main page later.

Sullivan stressed that the center was not meant to replace attorneys.

“An attorney can do a lot more for people than giving them forms, preparing forms,” he said. “They can give them advice.”

But it will be a great tool for those who can’t afford an attorney but don’t qualify for free legal help through organizations such as Prairie State Legal Aid, said Dori Michaels, a paralegal and volunteer coordinator for the organization.

“There is a wide range of people in the middle,” she said, “who need help but might not make the guidelines.”

Town:Woodstock