Proof of Service

[Leslie]

Hi Mike,
You did a great job modifying our PROOF OF SERVICE BY MAIL form #10061 to prompt the user to pick from PARTIES the names with addresses to include in form. Now I need to take this a step further. I need to have our address printed into the section of that form which reads "my business address is" and also, I need to have the section filled out which reads "I serve the foregoing documents described as" with some commonly served items. I tried setting up macros to fill out those sections, but I can't get the macros to work. What do you suggest?

[Jim Stewart]

I'd also like to use the A1-Law P.O.S., and would want to be able to select parties to be served from the Parties card. How do I get my form modified as you did for Leslie?

Also, after first viewing Leslie's Forum posting I went back to A1-Law and printed the POS form (10161) just to see what it was like. When I went to Saved letters to delete the entry, it had posted as "OCF Produce Witness For Trial AT 10532".

[Michael Appell]

Hello Jim and Leslie.

First, Jim, I think you mean 10061.

Leslie and Jim - the concept behind putting in custom defaults in a form all lies in first finding out the name of the field. For example, Leslie, you said you wanted your business address at that spot. So, to start, you edit form number 10061. At the top of the form, you enter:

courtform,debug1

then print the form. When you tab or shift tab or click on the field (and don't move the mouse) you will see the field name at the top left corner of the screen. In the example for your address, it's FillText2. So, this command may be inserted as an example in the corresponding letter:

FieldName = FillText22,123 First Avenue, Los Angeles, CA

That's it. Now, you may find defaults for all fields in any form. Served documents is FillText23. Now, let's say we want to take that a step farther. Perhaps, there are SEVERAL choices we may want to select from by way of a dropdown or combo and if we don't like the choice, we may enter our own. How do we do that? Use the INPUT4 command with the COMBO or Dropdown options. The user may fill in up to 10 items per input4 command. These may then be merged right into a fieldname.

So, if you have "I serve the foregoing documents described as" and there are maybe 5 or 10 standard phrases that you want to select from, you may set all that up in an input4 command then just do a:

fieldname = filltext23,>

or memory 42, 43, etc. Seems like it's just limited to your imagination huh? This is just another demonstration of the customizability of court forms. Jim, this post is getting long so I'll answer the serving of parties in the next post.

Mike

[Michael Appell]

Serving Parties in Court Forms

Using GetParty with Court Forms

The concept behind this idea started with a firm in Pasadena. They said that their judge required them to serve ALL the parties and lien claimants on the DOR. Sometimes there could be 30 or more parties. That's why we added the second page for service for the DOR. But, you may easily click Current Page so that the second page does not print if you don't have that many to serve. In any event, this request was filled by enhancing the GetParty command to store the selections in memory variables. This would then allow those variables to be pulled into letters and court forms.

In general, it's pretty straightforward. GetParty, puts the information in memory variables 121-200. The format depends on the GetParty style you select. This determines whether the entire name and address is stored in one memory variable per party or whether to store the address in a separate variable. However, the proof of service is formatted slightly different so it's more complex to set up. Therefore, rather than waste you time with techincal details, it may be easier for you to just "cut and paste" it from this post right into the letter/court form and play around with it from there if you need to. Just highlight everything below, type Ctrl-C to copy it to the clipboard. Then edit the A1-Law form letter, highlight the entire A1-Law form letter, hit the Delete key (to delete the current information). Then type Ctrl-V to paste (granted you don't need to hit the delete key and you may just type Ctrl-V and it will paste it over the selection. Don't try to read it in this post because the soft carrage returns will force you to run for the Aspirin. But, it should be formatted properly in the form. Save it and print the form. Let us know how it works out for you.

Mike

(highlight what's below, Ctrl-C to copy, Ctrl-V to paste)

(sidenote - please read a post that follows this one explaining that the following must be copied and pasted into a standard editor before posting into form letters)


courtform,debug1
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courtform,Title = OCF Proof of Service by Mail

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FieldName = FillText27,>
FieldName = FillText28,>

[Michael Appell]

Leslie,

if you can't figure it out, let me know and I'll be more than happy to sign on your system and create an example for you (with dropdowns, etc).

Mike

[Michael Appell]

Leslie,

I forgot to ask, have you found out any additional information about your paralegal and if there is anything they feel is lacking re: court forms? Perhaps there is something they don't fully understand.

Mike

[Michael Appell]

Jim -

with regards to the posting in case activity:

----- it had posted as "OCF Produce Witness For Trial AT 10532".

it was a minor mistake in the first release but it's really easy to fix. Just click Edit to edit the form letter and where you see the title, you will see where it says Post Info in the case activity part at the lower half of the screen. Just change that. Keep in mind that you may also click the style dropdown from NORMAL to PROMPT for any letter which will allow the user to add details in case activity for any letter they print. For example:

Fee of $200 (the user enters in the dollar amount when they save the letter and post to case activity).

Mike

[Michael Appell]

Serving Parties in Court Forms

Using GetParty with Court Forms

I have discovered that you must cut and paste this information into a standard text editor first. In A1-Law click File, New and type TEST for the filename. Then click Ctrl-V. Then highlight the text in there and click Ctrl-C then go into A1-Law forms and type Ctrl-V. The rationale behind this is that it probably removes invisible html text or something from the support forum.

Mike

[Michael Appell]

CORRECTION - In the previous post, I meant the top RIGHT corner of the screen.

here's a snippit of the previous post ----------


10061. At the top of the form, you enter:

courtform,debug1

then print the form. When you tab or shift tab or click on the field (and don't move the mouse) you will see the field name at the top left corner of the screen. In the example for your address, it's FillText2. So, this command may be inserted as an example in the corresponding letter:

[LESLIE]

I got the company address to print out, however, what is the INPUT4 command? I can't find it in the [?] menu. Also, one of the fields, the very last one on the form, is called FIRMATTYHAND; that's where the user needs to print their name. I edited the form & entered the following:
FieldName = FillTextFIRMATTYHAND,>
That should automatically enter the user's name into that field, but it didn't. Help. (I'm still talking about form 10061).
Thank, Leslie