Statement of Inability Instructions (Instructional Video)

The statement of inability to afford court costs is a form you file with the court, so that you do not have to pay court fees. This video shows you how to fill out the form.

Remember, you are swearing an oath that everything you say in this form is true. The information you put on this form must be complete and correct.

Let’s get started filling out the form. You can pause the video after each section as you fill out the form, then return to the video.

There is a space in this section to list any of your dependents. A dependent is anyone who relies on you for financial support.

• Typical examples are your children, your parents, or your spouse if they don’t work and pay for their living expenses.
• If you do not have any dependents, simply write “N/A” on the first line of this space.

If you applied for legal aid representation and qualified for their services, this is a good sign that you are unable to afford court costs. This is the case even if the legal aid could not take your case.

• Make sure you check the box showing that you are represented by legal aid or qualified for legal aid services.
• You must attach a letter from the legal aid showing that you qualified for their services.
• Select each box that describes a public benefit you receive. If you do not receive any benefits based on financial need, select “I do not receive needs-based public benefits.” If you select “other”, you must describe the benefit you receive in the space next to that choice.

This section lists all the ways you receive an income. Don’t leave any spaces blank on this section.

• If you do not receive any income from a listed source, write “$0” in the amount space and “N/A” in the description space.
• If you need more space to describe “other jobs/sources of income”, attach another page to the form with the description, and write “See attached Exhibit” in the space provided.

This section lists all your investments and property. Do not list the value of your household furnishings, clothes, tools of a trade, or personal effects.

The “value” of property means the amount it would sell for, after subtracting the amount you still owe for it. The value is not the amount you paid for the property, unless it would still sell for the same amount, and you don’t owe any money on it.

Sometimes it is hard to decide how much property would sell for. This is usually not a set amount, so you must estimate the amount based on how much a similar piece of property in your area would sell for. Here are some online resources you can use to decide the sale value of a piece of property:

• For an automobile, you can enter your car’s information on Kelley Blue Book (www.kbb.com).
• For real estate, you can look at the market value listed on your county’s appraisal district website.
• For other properties, you can look at how much similar items are selling for on an auction site like ebay.com.

This section lists all your expenses. The court wants to know if you have any leftover income you can use to pay court fees after your other expenses are met. It is important not to leave any spaces blank on this section. If you do not have an expense for a listed category, write “$0” in the amount space.

It is unlikely that you will have zero monthly expenses for many of these. Do not leave an expense out just because you are having a tough time estimating the monthly amount.

• If it is a yearly expense, instead of a monthly expense, divide the yearly amount by 12 to find the monthly amount.
• If it is a one-time expense that you are still making credit payments on, you can put your monthly payment as the monthly amount.
• If it is an irregular expense, you can also add up the approximate yearly amount and divide it by 12. For instance, let’s say you spend money on clothes, but you don’t buy clothes every month. Just add up the total amount you spent on clothes for the year, and divide that by 12.

This section is for you to tell the court about other debts or financial difficulties that you were unable to explain in any of the sections above.

• You do not have to write anything in this section.
• Put an “X” in each box that applies. Only select the second box if you are filing an appeal of a justice court decision.
  Sign the form and fill in the date and location where you signed it. Remember, you are swearing an oath that everything you say in this form is true.

We hope this information has been helpful. Remember, if you have not already applied for legal aid services, you can apply at Lonestar legal aid. You can apply online or over the phone.