Understanding and Improving the Experience of Pro Se Litigants in the Trial Court of Massachusetts

What can the Trial Court do to improve the experience of pro se litigants? To answer this question, I interviewed litigants, court staff, and attorneys, observed in courthouses, analyzed court forms and materials, studied websites, and reviewed relevant literature. This work took place between September, 2023 and February, 2025. I made over a dozen trips to courthouses and interviewed well over 100 litigants and dozens of court staff and attorneys.I concentrate on changes the Trial Court can make that will have a substantial positive impact and yet are relatively easy to implement. Although the focus here is on the Probate and Family Court (PFC), many of the recommendations apply to multiple court departments, systems that are used by all court departments, and many of the large courthouses that contain multiple departments. I focus on the user experience of litigants and attorneys, but primarily self-represented litigants (SRLs). This is just one perspective, one way of examining the court system, and there are many others, also valid, and complementary to this one.