Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Where did the official civil forms go?

Where did the official civil forms go? It's a rhetorical question, because I know the answer. They were deleted by the Kentucky Supreme Court last year, effective January 1, 2013.

Before that, Civil Rule 84 (DELETED) provided:

The forms contained in the Appendix of Forms are sufficient under the rules and are intended to indicate the simplicity and brevity of statement which the rules contemplate.

Adopted effective 7-1-53; deleted effective 1-1-2013
Previously, the Appendix of Forms (DELETED)with the Kentucky Rules of Civil Procedure had offered twenty-five official forms ranging from a Summons (Form 1)and a Complaint on a Promissory Note (Form 2) to the Cover of Brief to be Filed in the Supreme Court of Kentucky (Form 25). These now deleted forms dated from 1953, when the Civil Rules were first adopted. The stated purpose for these forms was:
The following forms are, under Rule 84, sufficient to withstand attack under the rules, and the practitioner using them may rely on them to that extent. In addition, they serve as examples of the simplicity and brevity of pleading required by the rules.
I don't miss these forms. I don't regret their passing into oblivion. As far as legal forms go, they were not that great to begin with. Some of the forms were misleading. Official Form 18, Motion to Intervene as a Defendant Under Rule 24, was for Rule 24.02(b) only. It would not have worked well for a motion to intervene under Rule 24.01.  

I think it is better that these forms are gone. However, they are not forgotten.

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