Rule 84.Forms

Rule 84 has no operative content. What it has is a placeholder and a promise, and both are worth reading because a related rule depends on them.

The rule states that it has been reserved pro tem, and adds a note: separate forms are to be drafted which in domestic relations practice in the Probate Court shall be mandatory.

Two things follow. First, unlike the ten rules in this compilation that are simply deleted, Rule 84 is held open — the number is reserved for a purpose rather than retired. Second, the forms it contemplates are described as mandatory rather than illustrative, which is a stronger position than the civil rule's appendix of forms occupies.

The rule that depends on this one is Rule 81(h)(9): in domestic relations matters in the Probate Court, forms, where prescribed, will be required in lieu of pleadings. That provision is already in force and operates on whatever forms the court prescribes; Rule 84 is the place a codified set would sit.

For what a pleading must contain in the meantime, Rule 7 lists the pleadings allowed, Rule 8 sets the general standard, Rule 10 the form, and Rule 11 the signature requirements.