Community Forum

Hi, Jeanette.  I think I understand what you mean, but let me know if I’ve gone astray.

When a form refers to a particular party (like Petitioner or Respondent) and I want the form to be flexible enough to allow for my client to be either the Petitioner or the Respondent, here’s how I handle it.  (Derived Answers are cool, but not necessary to solve this particular problem.)

1.  The first question in the Q&A table asks for the ClientName, using a Text-With-Pronoun answer.

2.  The second question in the Q&A table asks for the OppName, using a Text-With-Pronoun answer.

3.  The third question in the Q&A table asks for the ClientParty, using a Choice answer.  The first choice is Petitioner, and the second choice is Respondent.

Given those three pieces of information, you can handle every circumstance in the body of the form:

1.  If you need the client’s name, use {ClientName}.

2.  If you need a pronoun for the client, use a pronoun field that refers to ClientName.

3.  If you need the Petitioner’s name (regardless of whether the client is the Petitioner or the opponent is the Petitioner), use paired conditions, like so:  {ClientParty=1:{ClientName}}{ClientParty=2:{OppName}}.  That’s a mouthful, but it’s very flexible.  If the client is the Petitioner, it gives the client’s name; if the opponent is the Petitioner, it gives the opponent’s name.

4.  If you need a pronoun for the Petitioner, use the same paired-conditions method shown above, but with pronoun fields:  {ClientParty=1:{he/she}}{ClientParty=2:{he/she}}.  The first {he/she} is a pronoun field referring to ClientName; the second {he/she} is a pronoun field referring to OppName.

If that’s unclear, Jeanette, feel free to send me a copy of your form in a Private Message, and I can revise it and send it back to show you what I mean.  Thanks for the question!