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troublemaker_42

You've never heard of prepaid legal services? Google it....its far from uncommon these days

 

law420

Thanks for the heads up. I Never learned about these plans in law school, but I did a littel bit of reasearch on these plans and the premise is rather simple. These are contractual plans much like an insurance policy. The beneficiary of these plans must realize that there are limitations to what is covered and what isnt covered. I'd be very careful about reading the fine print on one of these plans, because I read some very nasty things about some of them. (http://w3.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff5088.htm).

I read one plan and for about 350 bucks a year they will allow you to:
1) can call on the phone,
2) they will write up to 2 business letters,
3) update your will,
4) spend up to 2.5 hours helping you with your Driver's license,
5) assist in a small claims Personal injury claim,
5) assist x amount of hours in the defense of civil suits and "job-related" criminal charges (Marijuana possession or a DUI for example is not a job related criminal charge)
5) and give you a 25% discount from the Provider Law Firm's standard hourly rate.

So basically you pay the lawyer 350 dollars a years for a service you will probably not use and the benefits you get are minimal. You get two form letters, they will edit your will, and they will refer you to a lawyer if you really do need legal help. It sounds great that you can call the alwyer up ont eh phone, but I can tell you from first ahnd experience lawyers are notorious for blowing people off on the phone. Since these are preliminary matters youre basically going to get someone to let you know if you need a consultation or not. I think its ok for quick questions and better for someone with a small business than for the average family. You get a discount on the lawyer they give you, but that doesnt mean that hes experienced or gives a crap about your case. When something sounds like its too good to be true, it usually is. Personally I think you get what you pay for is what you get and you're better off using an experienced lawyer with a good reputation. There are a lot of lawyers who dont give a crap about their clients. For example, I was in court for a bankrupcy proceeding and there was one attorney who was facing disciplinary charges because he had a bankrupcy mill, He was in court without about 20 clients and all their forms were written incorrectly. His clients were all indian-americans (they may have been arab) who spoke little to no english and they each paid him about 750-1500 bucks. He had his secretary fill out the forms and it was obvious he never read them. Because all these forms were incorrect all his clients got screwed. These proceeding have lawyers not judges overseeing them, but basically the guy told the clients to find a new lawyer. The point of this story is that you get what you pay for. This lawyer did the work cheap, but it doesnt mean that he cared about whether he did it right.