Legal Self-Help

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Free Legal Help

If you need help with a civil legal matter and cannot afford an attorney, there are resources available to assist you. The Kentucky Access to Justice Commission and Kentucky's civil legal aid programs provide answers to common legal questions and offer self-help forms, guides and other tools at kyjustice.org.  

Online Help With Completing Legal Forms

Some legal forms can be completed online through guided interviews. The guided interviews are user-friendly, requiring only that the user answer a series of questions. The guided interview tool, A2J Guided Interviews, uses the answers to complete the needed legal form. Once the form is completed, the user will need to print and file it with the Office of Circuit Court Clerk in the Kentucky county where the case will be handled. Click the link below to use the tool for your legal matter:​​​​

Fayette County: Legal Help Center

The Fayette County Legal Help Center offers free legal information for people who are handling certain legal matters on their own. Learn more here.

​Representing Yourself in Court

Individuals who represent themselves in court cases without the assistance of an attorney are called self-represented litigants.

These resources are provided in con​j​unction with the Kentucky Access to Justice Commission, which is committed to the idea that all Kentuckians deserve access to justice. The KAJC is collaborating with attorneys and Kentucky’s civil legal aid programs to assist low-income individuals with non-criminal legal issues. These issues include divorce, child custody, child support, eviction, foreclosure and veterans’ issues, among others.

To get started, you can download legal forms and self-help publications, find a list of common legal terms and contact the civil legal aid program that serves your region.​


Other Helpful Links

​Circuit court clerks manage the records of Circuit and District courts and are located in every Kentucky county. You can find contact information for all 120 Offices of Circuit Court Clerk by scrolling down to Find a Court/Circuit Court Clerk by County.

Circuit court clerks are happy to help you if they can, but they are strictly prohibited from providing legal advice. These guidelines explain some things that court staff can and cannot do for you.

Circuit Court Clerks Can

  • Respond to inquiries about court procedures.
  • Check your court papers to see if you have completed the signatures, have the proper notarization, and have the correct county name and case number. They can also verify any attachments.
  • Give general information about where to find court procedures, deadlines, rules and practices.
  • Provide court schedules and information about how to get a case scheduled.
  • Provide basic information about your own case file.
  • Provide official court forms and instructions.
  • Provide copies of documents for a fee.

Circuit Court Clerks Cannot

  • Provide legal advice or tell you whether you should bring your case to court.
  • Tell you what to say in your court papers.
  • Give you an opinion about what will happen if you bring your case to court.
  • Tell you what to say in court.
  • Talk to the judge for you.
  • Let you talk to the judge outside of court.
  • Change an order signed by a judge.
  • Provide referrals to attorneys.