Which document do I need?

A document, or an advocate?

Most legal problems an ordinary person faces start with a piece of paper. Someone owes you money, a landlord keeps your deposit, an office sits on your file, a company will not refund you. Often the right paper, sent on time, is all it takes. Sometimes it is not, and the matter has to go before a court, a tribunal or a commission. The chooser above asks what your problem is about and narrows it to one of 14 documents, or tells you it needs an advocate. This is how it decides.

When you can do it yourself

A document is something you can prepare from facts you already know, without appearing anywhere. It is right when:

• You are starting something, not defending it. You are the one sending the notice or making the request.
• It is one paper with one job. A demand for payment, a request for records, an agreement, a sworn statement.
• No hearing is needed yet. The paper goes to a person, a company or an office, not to a judge.

The 14 documents fall into these groups:

• Cheque bounce: the demand notice when a cheque given to you bounced, and the reply when you received one.
• Home: the rent agreement.
• Shopping: the consumer legal notice and the e-commerce refund notice.
• Job: the PF complaint.
• Government and police: the RTI application, the RTI first appeal and the police complaint.
• Family and succession: the mutual consent divorce petition, when both of you agree, and the will.
• Everyday papers: the affidavit, the NOC and the undertaking.

When it needs an advocate

Choose an advocate when any of these is true:

• It is going to court, a tribunal or a commission. Filing a cheque-bounce complaint, a consumer commission case, a road-accident claim, a contested divorce or a maintenance case means drafting pleadings and appearing at hearings.
• The other side will fight it. A spouse who will not agree, a tenant who will not leave, an insurer that has rejected a claim, a builder who is late.
• You are the one accused, or a case has already been filed against you.
• A deadline has passed, and you need to know what is left.
• Someone has died and you need a succession or legal-heir certificate, which have to be applied for formally, with proof of who the heirs are.

What happens next

If the chooser names a document, open it, answer the questions in a few minutes and see the full draft free before you pay. The price shown is all-inclusive. If it says the matter needs an advocate, describe what happened. An independent advocate from our panel reviews it and quotes a fee before you pay anything. If the document does not settle things, every document page shows what comes next and who can take it on.