Maryland Judiciary Logo
Court Information Office
Robert C. Murphy Courts of Appeal Building
361 Rowe Boulevard
Annapolis, Maryland
410-260-1488
 
For Immediate Release
CONTACT: Sally Rankin  410-260-1488

Family Law Forms and Web Site Now Available in Spanish
 
(Annapolis, MD—February 15, 2005) The Maryland Judiciary is now offering bilingual Spanish/English forms to help Spanish speakers access the state’s family justice system. The forms are available for cases involving issues including divorce, child custody, visitation, child support, protection from domestic violence, and name change. The family law portion of the Judiciary’s Web site has also been translated into Spanish and is available through www.courts.state.md.us/family.

Eleven percent of the people who use the court’s family law self help centers are non-English speakers, and 7 percent report that Spanish is their primary language, said Pamela Cardullo Ortiz, executive director of the Department of Family Administration.

“But that number does not necessarily reflect the true need,” Ortiz said. “Non-English speakers are less likely to use the legal system to solve disputes and resolve problems if services are available only in English. These new resources are an effort to enhance access to the family justice system for many of those individuals.”

The new bilingual forms can be completed on the Internet, then printed for filing. The forms, which can be printed and completed by hand as well, will also be available through circuit court family law self-help centers and clerks’ offices.

At the request of the Administrative Office of the Courts, the Women’s Law Center of Maryland is providing Spanish-speaking attorneys to offer free assistance with the forms on Mondays from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The attorneys are available at the center’s Legal Forms Spanish-Language Helpline at 1-877-293-2507 or 443-519-4054.

Recognizing that many Spanish speakers do not have access to the Internet, the Judiciary hopes to expand access to the service by providing information to organizations serving the Hispanic community. The department will hold an orientation session on the new Spanish-language resources for representatives from Hispanic organizations on March 31 from 1 to 3 p.m. in Annapolis. For more information, call 410/260-1580.

A few of the Judiciary’s family law self-help programs offer assistance for self-represented individuals in Spanish. These include the programs operated by the circuit courts in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. Most programs make referrals to Spanish-speaking attorneys and programs; others provide assistance to self-represented Spanish speakers by appointment. The Maryland Judiciary also provides a grant to the Law Foundation of Prince George’s County to operate the Latino Legal Access Project in that county.

Many of the new resources have been developed as a result of suggestions made by the Judiciary’s Committee on Interpretation and Translation chaired by Judge Audrey Carrion, Circuit Court for Baltimore City, and the recent Report of the Commission on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Judicial Process.

For more information, please call the Court Information Office at 410/260-1488.

# # # # #