Formbooks is a secondary source that contain sample legal documents, especially transaction-related documents such as contracts, deeds, leases, and wills. The Dee J. Kelly Law Library collection includes several sets of Texas and subject-specific formbooks as well as other treatises (scholarly books) that contain forms. This guide lists the major Texas formbooks and treatises owned by the library, providing the title, call number, and a brief description of each.
To use a formbook or set of formbooks, look for your subject or the form name in the index or table of contents. It may be necessary to search under several different terms before you find the right one. If an index term or subject heading is not working, try looking under a synonym or similar term in the same index. Though the library is not allowed to suggest specific terms for you to search, it can provide you with a legal dictionary or thesaurus. When you have found an index term or table of contents entry that matches your needs, look up that term in the appropriate volume of the formbook.
Be sure to check the publication date of the resource you’re using – titles that are more than a few years old may contain out of date information. To make sure your information is current, you may need to check a more recent edition of a title or use another resource. You may also want to look up any laws you find in Vernon’s Texas Statutes and Codes Annotated, which is found at call number KFT 1230.5 V4.
Common attributes of formbooks include:
*Click for images of the print text of Texas Transaction Guide sec. 58A*
Formbooks also list boilerplate language. Boilerplate language is:
