Resources and Useful Links
It is recommended that you hire legal counsel for any legal problem. However, if you have decided not to or are unable to or just want to read up on some additional information, here are some resources and links that might be useful. These links are being provided for information only and Wilkerson Law Firm, P.A. does not endorse any of the particular resources or entities providing the links nor are they endorsing Wilkerson Law Firm, P.A. This is simply information from various sources gathered into one page that might help point you in a good direction. No warranty, express or implied, is being made as to the accuracy of the information nor can it be assumed the information is up-to-date. Thanks.
GENERAL LEGAL RESOURCES
James J. Lunsford Law Library is located in downtown Tampa. At the time of posting, it is mostly open during regular business hours and on Saturdays.
701 E. Twiggs St.
Tampa, Florida 33602
Phone: 813-272-5818
Fax: 813-272-5226
http://www.hcplc.org/hcplc/locations/law/
The Riverview, FL campus of Western Michigan University Cooley Law School, at the time of posting, allows the community to take advantage of its law library resources. You just need to check-in as a visitor when you arrive. At the time this link was posted, they offered more extensive hours than the downtown law library.
Western Michigan University
Cooley Law School
Tampa Bay Campus
9445 Camden Field Pkwy
Riverview, FL 33578
(813) 419-5100, ext. 5102
http://www.cooley.edu/tampabay/about.htmlhttp://www.cooley.edu/tampabay/about.html
Stetson University has a law libary open to the public in Gulfport. (The Tampa location is open to bar members and some other non-students during particular hours but is not open to the public).
Stetson University College of Law
Dolly & Homer Hand Law Library
1401 61st Street South
Gulfport, FL 33707
HELPFUL LINKS/RESOURCES FOR LANDLORD AND TENANT LAW AND EVICTIONS
You can access Florida Statutes online regarding Landlord and Tenant Law at this link:
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0083/0083.html
The Florida Bar has posted free residential lease forms as well as eviction forms here:
Florida attorney Bill McCabe has drafted and published on his website a very thorough Eviction Handbook. You can go here to download it from his webpage:
http://billmccabelaw.com/pdf/EVICTION%20HANDBOOK.pdf
Legal Services of Greater Miami offers an informative brochure on how to answer an eviction case. Granted, the court addresses and information as to where you send the answer will be different for those in other areas of the State, but much of the information on answering the eviction may be useful information throughout the State. Here it is:
http://www.housingissues.org/docs/How-to-Answer-eviction.pdf
The Hillsborough County Clerk's office has free online forms for evictions at this link:
https://www.hillsclerk.com/en/About-Us/Forms
Here is an interesting article in the Florida Bar Journal about evictions:
HELPFUL RESOURCES AND LINKS FOR FAMILY LAW
Free Forms for family law cases can be printed off the Florida Courts webpage here:
If you are not hiring an attorney and you need help figuring out how to fill out family law forms, here is some information about family law form clinics posted by Bay Area Legal Services:
https://www.bals.org/self-help-and-links/family-forms-clinic
Information about court fees in family law cases and other types of cases can be found at the Hillsborough County Clerk's Office Webpage here:
http://www.hillsclerk.com/About-Us/Fees-and-Fines
Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure are posted by the Florida Bar here:
https://www.floridabar.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/family.pdf
Below is a link to Florida Statutes concerning dissolution of marriage and child custody:
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0061/0061.html
FREE AND LOW COST LEGAL AID
The Hillsborough County Bar Association has published a list of free and low cost legal aid for those who might be unable to afford an attorney. You can find the link below. Additionally, if you are browsing for other reasons and have the means, it is likely many of the listed organizations would welcome any support, and you can contact them for further information on that.