How to Use this Site

Also in

Here's how to use the MassLegalHelp website and find what you are looking for. Watch the video below, or scroll down to read more.

Remote video URL


To watch the desktop version of the video, click here.

Click any heading with a plus sign (+) icon to open an individual section. The plus sign icon will turn into a minus sign (-) icon. To close the section, click the heading again.

Widgets in this section
Browse by legal topic

To find the information you are looking for within a certain topic on MassLegalHelp: 

  1. On any page, go to the yellow button that says “Legal Topics” at the top of the page.

    Screenshot of a yellow Legal Topics dropdown button on the left and a Search bar on the right, against a navy blue background
    Location of Legal Topics button on a desktop computer screen
    Screenshot showing location of yellow Legal Topics button in the top menu on a mobile phone screen
    Location of Legal Topics button on a phone screen
  2. Press or click the Legal Topics button. A list of links will appear. Choose the topic you want to go to and click on it. For example, “Housing, Apartments & Shelter.”
     

    Legal Topics navigation menu with 11 lines of links, against a white background
    Legal Topics menu when open
  3. Now you will be on a page with boxes that list the different issues or subtopics within this legal topic. For example, “Housing, Apartments & Shelter” has issues like “Eviction" and “Repairs & Bad Conditions.” Click on the box you are interested in.
     

    Mobile device screenshot of webpage with MassLegalHelp blue header, title reading "Housing, Apartments and Shelter, an icon of an apartment building, and a light blue section with white boxes
    Topic page for "Housing, Apartments & Shelter" on a phone screen
  4. Once you click on an Issue, you will be taken to the landing page for that Issue. Here, you can scroll down to a list of resources like Articles, E-Books, How-Tos, and Videos. There are also buttons to filter or narrow down the list by information type.
     

    Screenshot of this website on a phone screen, on a page with the title Eviction
    Issue page for Eviction on a phone screen
    Middle of the page, with buttons E-Book, How-To, and Video at the top, 14 results, and links "Eviction basics and Notices to Quit" and "Tenants, foreclosure, and eviction" with article summaries below each.
    Middle of the page, showing information type filters and a list of articles
  5. To go to a resource in the list, click on its title. For example, if you want to read the article Eviction Basics, click the underlined text that says Eviction Basics. 

Some resources are available in languages other than English. If a resource is in another language, like Spanish, it will have a link that says “Also In:” and the name of the language. For example, “Also In: Español.”

Another way to browse the site by legal topic is by going to the homepage. You will see boxes that have the names of legal topics. You can click the name of that legal topic to go to a landing page for that topic. 

Search MassLegalHelp
Mobile device screenshot of a navy blue bar with the MassLegalHelp logo in white, and two links below it. The two links say Legal Topics and Search, with a magnifying glass icon. The Search button is outlined in a white square.
The Search button on the "sticky menu" as you scroll down a page on a phone screen
  1. Click the Search link in the dark blue bar at the top of every page. There is a magnifying glass icon next to it.
  2. Type what you are looking for and press Enter or Search. 
  3. Scroll down to see the search results.
  4. You can narrow your search further at the top under “Filter by:”
    1. To filter by information type, click on the button for that information type, like “Articles.”
    2. To filter by legal topic (Immigration, School, etc.), if you are on a mobile device click the gray bar with a down arrow that says Legal Topic. If you are on desktop, go to the blue navigation menu on the left. You will see checkboxes that you can click.
  5. To do a new search, press the Reset button.
Shows options to select information types (articles, ebooks, how tos, videos) and a gray box which has a list of legal topics
You have the option to filter by both information type and legal topic.
Articles, How Tos, E-Books, and Videos

This website has resources in different formats, or "information types." The different “information types” are: Articles, E-Books, How Tos, and Videos. On search result pages and Issue landing pages, there are filter buttons. To only see content in one information type, or multiple, click on the button for that type. For example, if you want to see only E-Book chapters or whole books, click the E-Books button. To go back to the list of content in all information types, click the All button.

Shows results for searching for information type after looking up "unemployment", with options to select articles, e-books, how tos, and videos
After searching up "unemployment", you have the option to filter for articles, e-books, how tos, and videos.

Articles have written information about a topic.

How-Tos have instructions for when you are ready to take action to do something.

E-Books on MassLegalHelp are longer guides with chapters and sections. They are published as webpages and sometimes also available as PDFs. See a full list of E-Books here.

Video pages have embedded videos from our YouTube channel.

Listen to a page

ReadSpeaker allows the text on this website to be read out loud to you. You don’t need to download anything.

Listen to the main content

Click the Listen to this Page button to listen to the webpage’s content.

Button with speaker icon that says "Listen to this Page"

A control panel will appear, and ReadSpeaker automatically starts reading the text of the webpage out loud.

Image of audio-player with a pause and stop button and volume and setting controls.
The "Listen to this Page" player while speaking out loud text. On mobile, the small wheel on the right side opens up a settings control panel.

   In the control panel you can:

  • Pause/restart the reading
  • Stop the reading
  • Use the progress bar to navigate in the audio
  • Adjust the volume
  • Click the settings icon to adjust the behavior of the service
  • Click the download icon to download the audio file
  • Close the control panel

Listen to selected text

You can select a part of the text that you want to listen to and then press the pop-up Listen button that appears next to the mouse pointer. When you click the pop-up Listen button, a control panel will appear and ReadSpeaker will automatically start reading the text you have selected.

Settings

In the settings menu you can:

  • Choose whether you want to have the text highlighted while read
  • Choose style and colors for the highlighting
  • Choose whether you want the reading speed to be slow, medium, or fast
  • Choose whether you want the page to scroll automatically to follow the highlighted text
  • Choose whether you want the pop-up Listen button to be shown when text is selected
Control panel with separate categories to modify text highlighting, word color, sentence color, text color, and enhanced text visibility
Control panel for the ReadSpeaker

You can use Tab/Shift+Tab keys on your computer to navigate in the control panel and press enter to activate a certain button or link.

To learn more about online text to speech, visit the ReadSpeaker website.

Switch the site language

You can use MassLegalHelp in English and Spanish. To switch your language, go to the upper left corner of your screen. The language you are viewing the site in is there with a down arrow next to it. Click to open a dropdown menu with the other language. Click the language you want.

Screenshot of Mass Legal Help logo and dropdown menu that says English and Espanol
The language switcher is below the MassLegalHelp logo on mobile.

Why am I seeing articles in English when I am on the Spanish version of MassLegalHelp?

Probably because the page has not been translated yet. Pages that haven't been translated into Spanish are still viewable in English, even when your language on the site is set to Spanish.

 

View endnotes

To view endnotes in an E-Book, Article, or other resource, find the Show Endnotes button under the title (blue box).

Image of title for article "When can landlord evict," with an icon for listening to the page and an icon for viewing endnotes below it.
A page with endnotes you can turn on or off

If a resource does not have endnotes, the Show Endnotes button will not show up.

Share feedback

Have feedback you want to share with us about this website? You can fill out our Contact Us form.

Please note: We cannot give you legal advice or answer personal legal questions.

If you are looking for a lawyer or legal advice, see Find a Lawyer. 

To learn more about MassLegalHelp, see About Us.

Print or share a page

Use the Print and Share icons located at the top of most pages.

Left: Printer icon and the word Print. Right: Square and arrow icon with the word Share.
Print and share icons

You can share pages to social media or by email. The email button currently only works if you have a default email app set up.