Rule 84.Forms
Repealed · Effective July 1, 1974 · Last amended January 1, 2017 · Last verified June 26, 2026
Full Text of Rule 84
Rule History
Amended Dec. 13, 1981, effective Jan. 1, 1982; repealed November 30, 2016, effective January 1, 2017.
Reporter’s Notes
(2017)
Rule 84 was repealed and the related Appendix of Forms was deleted from the Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure effective January 1, 2017. Prior to repeal, Rule 84 provided in part: “The forms contained in the Appendix of Forms are sufficient under the rules and are intended to indicate the simplicity and brevity of statement which the rules contemplate.”
Many of the forms in the Appendix of Forms are out of date, and the Appendix is not widely used in its current form. In addition, the value of the Appendix of Forms has been diminished with the availability of a multiplicity of forms that are accessible on the website of the Massachusetts court system and from a variety of sources on-line.
For similar reasons, Rule 84 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the federal Appendix of Forms were likewise repealed in 2015.
(1973)
The Reporters have prepared and appended to the Rules a comprehensive set of forms based on an amalgam of the Federal forms (adopted for State practice) and the Massachusetts forms contained in G.L. c. 231, § 147.
Plain-English Summary
Rule 84 is no longer in force. Until 2017 it pointed litigants to an official Appendix of Forms—model complaints, answers, and other papers—and declared that those forms were sufficient under the rules. Its purpose was to show how short and plain a proper pleading could be.
The Supreme Judicial Court repealed Rule 84 and deleted the Appendix effective January 1, 2017, because the forms had grown out of date and litigants increasingly rely on forms published on the Massachusetts court system’s website and elsewhere. The federal courts repealed their own Rule 84 and forms for the same reasons in 2015. The repeal did not change the pleading standards themselves; it removed the illustrative forms.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Rule 84 still in effect in Massachusetts?
No. Rule 84 was repealed effective January 1, 2017, and the related Appendix of Forms was deleted. It is retained here for historical reference only.
Where can I find Massachusetts civil forms now?
Court forms are published on the Massachusetts court system’s website and through the Trial Court Law Libraries, rather than in an appendix to the Rules of Civil Procedure.