Free legal docs online

"We all hate administrative forms, and it's worse when you've got to spend hours searching difficult sites just to get the forms. Or hours standing in queues", he says.

The idea behind the website is ultimately to save time. "From a legal point of view, there are hundreds of commonly used agreements which are easy to complete. The idea is to save time," says Foxcroft.

"While many documents can be bought or downloaded from various retail outlets or the web, we're trying to put them all together in a type of online library".

Foxcroft added that this is why they're free - just like a library. Freelegaldocs does not offer legal advice, nor is it a substitute for an attorney, and the website is essentially an online publishing library. "We're trying to make it just a little easier for everybody to go about their daily tasks," he says.

The scope of the Freelegaldocs document base is "massive" - from company registration forms, to domestic employment contracts, to property templates (leases, offers to purchase etc). Not only can you download simple wills, or a power of attorney, or an HIV workplace policy, but Freelegaldocs is aiming to provide relevant documents in as many official languages as possible.

"We're also trying to fill a gap in the language barrier. Contracting parties need to understand what they're signing, and very often one document won't cover differing home languages", says Foxcroft. "So for example, domestic employment contracts are now issued in English, Afrikaans and Xhosa, and our HIV/Aids workplace policy has just been published in Xhosa", he says.