How eLitigant Works: Draft Any Form, Claim or Letter in Three Steps

By the eLitigant Editorial Team · Reviewed for current forms, fees & procedure · How we check our guides

In short: creating a legal document on eLitigant takes three steps. Tell Chris what you need, in your own words. Upload the paperwork you already have. Then work it through together until the document is finished to a professional standard. You review it, you sign it, you file it — you remain the author from the first word to the final signature. It is free to start: no sign-up, no card.

Step one: tell Chris what you need

Start with your own words. You do not need to know the name of the form, the rule number, or the legal label for what has happened. “My landlord kept my deposit and will not answer me.” “A claim form arrived and I do not agree with it.” “There is a judgment against me that I never knew about.” Each of those is a perfectly good opening, and Chris will know where to start from it.

If you do already know the form you need — an N244 application notice, an N180 directions questionnaire, an N9B defence and counterclaim — say so, and Chris begins there instead. And if you are not sure which form applies, our free form finder will narrow it down before you start.

Step two: upload what you already have

Letters, contracts, emails, a tenancy agreement, the claim form that came through the door, a photograph of the paperwork spread across your kitchen table. Chris reads what you upload and builds from the facts you actually hold.

This matters more than it sounds. Most people preparing their own case lose hours retyping what is already written down, and lose accuracy in the process — a date transposed here, a figure remembered wrongly there. Uploading the original removes both problems at once. The dates, names, amounts and deadlines come from the document itself.

Step three: work it through together

This is the part that turns what happened to you into what a court needs to read. Chris asks the questions the form or the rules actually require an answer to — when the tenancy ended, when you first wrote to them, what you are asking the court to order — and drafts alongside you as you answer.

Anything not yet known is marked in the draft in square brackets rather than guessed at, so you can see exactly what still needs your confirmation. Nothing is invented to fill a gap. When it is finished you have a document prepared to a professional standard, in minutes rather than evenings, and the same case folder carries on into whatever comes next: the response, the evidence, the hearing bundle.

Then you do the three things that stay yours alone. You check it. You sign it. You file it.

What you can draft this way

The same three steps apply whatever the paperwork. Court forms and applications. A money claim through the online portal, or a paper claim where the portal will not take it. A defence to a claim brought against you. Letters before action, complaint letters, and the correspondence that often settles a dispute long before a courtroom is involved. Tribunal claims, appeals, statements and orders.

If you would rather read first and draft later, the eLitigant Library holds the written guide behind each of these, grouped by subject and free to read.

The free routes come first

Before anything else, the free help is real and you should use it. Citizens Advice will talk a problem through with you. Support Through Court provides trained volunteers who sit with people facing a hearing alone. And if a court fee is what stands in your way, Help with Fees can reduce or remove it entirely — a great many people who qualify never apply.

Then comes the part none of those services can do for you: turning your situation into the document the court expects to read, in the form it expects to receive it. That is the gap Chris was built to close.

What stays in your hands

You are the litigant in person throughout. eLitigant does not represent you, does not file anything on your behalf, and does not tell you whether your case will win. What it gives you is information, preparation and paperwork prepared to a professional standard — and the confidence of arriving with the same quality of document as the other side.

Any court fee is paid by you, directly to the court, and is separate from anything to do with us.

Common questions

Do I need to sign up before I can try it? No. Drafting with Chris is free to start — no account, no card. You only need an email address if you want your work saved so you can come back to it.

What if I do not know which form I need? Describe what has happened in plain English and Chris will identify the form. You can also use the form finder first.

Who signs the document? You do, always. A statement of truth must be signed by the person making it, and that is you.

Can Chris file it at court for me? No, and deliberately so. Filing is an act only you can take in your own case. Chris prepares the document and explains where and how it is filed; the step itself is yours.

What if I already started and had to stop? Your case folder is waiting when you come back — sign in with the email address you used and pick up exactly where you left off.

Free to start · no sign-up · no card. Tell Chris what has happened and see whether we can help before you pay anything. One matter · one case folder · a full day of drafting · 7-day guarantee on the standard of the drafts. If money is tight, Help with Fees can remove the court fee entirely, and Citizens Advice is free — we will always tell you when you do not need us.

Three steps. Your words, your documents, your case.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.