Publications and Forms
Unrepresented Litigants Information for non-lawyers
If you do not have a lawyer, help is available from this website by providing:
- information about different legal topics
- information about different types of court documents (forms)
- court documents (forms) to download for preparing
- links to legal referral and legal research websites
- links to other parts of the Supreme Court website.
Court staff can also help by providing general information about the court and about the rules and procedures that are part of the court process, although they may not know the answers to all questions. Questions can be answered best, if court staff are given accurate, clear and current information. In providing any kind of information, the court and court staff must remain impartial. They cannot take sides or help one party in a dispute to present their case against the other party. Most importantly, court staff – whether legally trained or not – are not permitted to give legal advice.
Cases heard in the Supreme Court involve complex legal questions that are decided by the court. What the court can do in deciding cases is determined by legislation, rules of court and decisions in previous cases of a similar type. The powers of the court in resolving cases are based on:
- principles of conciliation (ending disagreement between parties)
- reparation (replacing what has been wrongfully taken away)
- compensation (payment to make up for a wrong suffered).
Even if successful in a case, the outcome may not mean that one party was right and the other party was wrong.
The Supreme Court of Victoria acknowledges the support of Victoria Law Foundation for its contribution towards the development of the unrepresented litigants' component of this website.