Pre-paid legal plans? You can get them for free!
Pre-paid legal plans? You can get them for free!They say the best things in life are free. In the case of pre-paid legal
plans, this may just hold true.
Pre-paid legal plans offer a range of legal services on-call for a fixed
monthly charge of up to $25 per month. With such a low monthly payment,
most people are only too happy to get a legal coverage they wouldn’t have
otherwise dreamt of in the stultifying, money-grabbing world of lawyers...
But did you know, you could get all of that coverage free of charge?
In a bid to cut on administration costs, employers, labor unions and
universities are now providing legal services at discounted or no cost
altogether to their members. Employers are increasingly sponsoring legal
plans to their employees as a fringe benefit, as part of their Employee
Assistance Program (EAP). Labor unions fund plans offered as member
benefit, or under a collective bargaining scheme, in which case new members
are eligible to huge discounts. Universities are equally as involved with
legal plans offered to students and staff.
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Pre-paid legal: Are you really going to use it?
Pre-paid legal: Are you really going to use it?Are you enrolled in a pre-paid legal plan and worried your provider is
simply tallying up your tab for a service you’ll never get to use? Read on
as we explain the chances of using pre-paid legal services in legal
challenges you may be faced with.
In their lifetime, people are most likely to use legal services that fall
into four categories: civil defence, civil plaintiffs, criminal defence and
legal help that involves a variety of transactional or business law.
Your liability insurances already covers you for the legal pertaining to
civil defence. Your insurer hires the lawyer who will defend you and have
every incentive to defend your well since they are the ones who bear your
legal costs irrespective of the final outcome. In that respect, you already
have “pre-paid legal coverage” in place and a legal plan wouldn’t add much
to the coverage.
Civil plaintiff attorneys in the Unites States work on a “no win no fee”
basis. This means that they will not charge you unless they win you damages
in an insurance claim or lawsuit against someone who caused you physical
injury. Their contingency fees are calculated as a “commission” on any
money won, so there is every incentive for your plaintiff lawyer to defend
you and defend you well: the more you win, the more he wins. There is no
need to pre-pay for a service where you stand to lose nothing, and where
advice is readily available to you from plaintiff lawyers eager to work on
your case.
On the rare occasion you need to bring criminal charges if you’re involved
in a serious accident or defend yourself against criminal charges brought
against you, lining up a lawyer to represent you in advance is not the best
of decisions. In these situations, client-lawyer rapport is crucial: you
need someone whom you trust, build a rapport with and competent enough to
defend you in a court of law. You rarely get the chance to talk to your
attorney face-to-face in a pre-paid legal plan, and most of the attorneys
in the network do not do criminal defence work.
Transactional and business law is the area where you will most probably
find pre-paid legal services most effective. If you frequently need to
someone to draft your wills, review simple contracts and set up advance
health-directives or simply want competent legal advice at your disposal,
then going pre-paid will save you the trouble of searching for an attorney
and paying “a la carte”.
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Look before you take the leap into pre-paid legal services
Look before you take the leap into pre-paid legal servicesThese are some of the question you should ask if you are considering a
pre-paid legal plan.
What is covered? Legal plans are offered in different models and differ in
the specifics of what they cover. While phone consultation and simple
drafting and reviewing of simple contracts are included across the board,
more elaborate and complicated legal matters are not covered.
It’s best to review your own legal needs before you choose a legal plan.
Ask which legal services will you need most and then choose a plan that
provides the best coverage given those needs. For instance, if you are a
business owner, lawsuits, lease and contract negotiations could be high on
your list and you would be looking for a legal plan that provides coverage
accordingly.
What legal coverage do I already have? Don’t pay for coverage twice! If
you
have car insurance, then you are covered for liability and medical
protection, home insurance covers you for injuries sustained on your
property… Your existing insurance policies already cover some of your
legal costs and there is no need to pay for that coverage when you select
with a legal plan.
Does the company have an in-house procedure to handle complaints? One of
the stumbling blocks of pre-paid legal services is quality of service.
Newly-licensed attorneys, phone calls not getting answered and that
ointment on any client –lawyer relationship: fee disputes, typically
involving bills made to your credit car to cover for services not included
in your contract… This is just a specimen of the many problems people face
with their plan providers.
Make sure you select a plan that has clear guidelines as to how to settle
dispute when they arise. A company that has a good in-house mechanism to
handle complaints will generally assign a senior attorney with the
authority to handle customer complaints of and disputes with any attorneys
in the network. Secondary sources of resolution may include your state
insurance department or bar association. Check their outlet for complaints
against pre-paid services.
What is the quality of the work they provide? You’ll need to do some
homework before you select your legal provider. Ask these questions:
What’s the firm’s reputation in my area? How many years have they been
in business? Have they been operating in my local area for at least a year
without complaints? How skilled are they attorneys? Do they cover the
locale where my business operates? Some good places to start your
background research are your state bar association, the Better Business
Bureau and the Consumer Affairs Office.
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Limitations of Pre-Paid Legal Services
Limitations of Pre-Paid Legal ServicesPre-paid legal plans are promoted under the promise of cheap legal
coverage, an attractive alternative to the high fees charged by regular
attorneys and law practices. But under the gloss of accessible legal
services for the general public, lie a number of limitations.
First, there is a limit on the scope of the legal services provided. Most
of what is provided on an unlimited-basis is phone based: calls to your
attorney for advice and consultation on legal matters, or phone calls made
on your behalf to third parties. Other benefits bundled in the plan are
limited: regular visits to your attorney’s office is restricted to a dozen
or so hours per month, the wills you want drafted or sample contracts
reviewed will be carried out on two or three copies per year. More complex
legal matters involving more time and effort on the part of your attorney
are not provided outright. If you need representation in a court for a
lawsuit on the recovery of damages, or a complex lease contract reviewed
and approved, then you have to pay regular lawyer fees. Some discounts of
up to 25% apply, but you could get the same discounts if not better by
the simple virtue of simple negotiations and clever comparison shopping.
Second is the restriction on your choice of attorney and the quality of
legal work provided. Although you are free to choose your own attorney,
client-lawyer relationship and the building of rapport are harder to come
by in this scheme.
Pre-paid legal plans are fraught with the “rookie” syndrome: the providers
usually resort to employing newly-licensed or trainee attorneys in a
cost-cutting exercise. Someone who does mostly wills, trusts and sample
contracts is probably not a good fit for a more complex legal issue like
the custody of children. In this day of age of increasing specialisation,
it is better to ask someone with specialised knowledge and years of
experience then it is to rely on a novice with a limited professional
track-record.
If you go down the traditional way, then there is restricted “pool of
attorneys” you can choose from. Your research will be easier and a lot
more comprehensive. You can set up interviews with lawyers, ask for
referrals from friends, previous customers or check your local bar
association. You are more likely to get a top-notch lawyer with who to
build rapport get competent advice and trust the judgement.
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Legal plans: An IntroductionWhat if you could pick up the phone and call an attorney to get advice
about any and all legal matters of interest to you? The attorney would
draft your will, review it and update it for every other year, make phone
calls and write letters on your behalf negotiate your contracts and
represent you in court. If you are traveling in another state and need any
form of legal advice, he will refer you to a competent attorney in that
state for no extra cost to you.
This all seems great on paper, but the mere thought of paying hundreds of
dollars an hour to put an attorney on retainer is enough to persuade most
people not to seek legal coverage.
You will be surprised to know that such coverage does indeed exist under
an arrangement similar to your health or insurance plan. Pre-paid legal
plans offer you access to all these legal services, for a monthly charge
of $10 to $25. If you are employed, you may incur no charge if your
employer provides legal services as a fringe benefit.
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How to enrol for a legal plan? Are you thinking of getting on the pre-paid bandwagon? Choosing a
particular enrolment method can be very important in determining the
benefits, costs and conditions of coverage of your legal plan.
A voluntary enrolment refers to a membership of a legal plan where people
“voluntarily” subscribe to a pre-paid legal service in response to a direct
email offer, during an employer’s open enrolment period or during
individual sales representations. In this arrangement, you pay the prepaid
charge, get the standard discounts open to all other members of the plan
and get the coverage as per the terms and conditions of the plan.
In a group plan, all members are automatically included in the plan because
of their status as a group. For instance, many employees enjoy a 100%
participation in legal plans sponsored by their employers. They do not have
to pay any pre-paid charge or premium, as legal coverage in the work place
is now regarded as an employee fringe-benefit.
Some universities also provide legal coverage for their students, financing
the plans from their general tuition fees.
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How to choose an attorney?
How to choose an attorney?Throughout the course of your legal problems, you will have to make some
tough decisions – If you were involved in an accident then you have to
choose between bringing criminal damages or press with a plaintiff case, if
you have a small business and you were involved in a deal, then you have to
decide whether to sign it or let it pass. There is no clear-cut answer in
many of these dilemmas, and getting the right lawyer is crucial to you. We
examine the perks of choosing a lawyer in a pre-paid legal plan as opposed
to hiring your own lawyer, and some simple steps you can take to choose a
good attorney.
The number one criterion has to do with a lawyer’s legal ability: someone
who lays the law down for you, present you with options, explain the
ramifications of each decision you make and give you recommendations on the
best course of action. In this day and age of complicated legal matters,
many lawyers are increasingly specialised and you stand to get better
information from someone with a practice focus in a particular area of the
law than a generalist who deals with a broad spectrum of legal issues.
Building rapport is also very important: your relationship with your lawyer
can make or break your case. You need a lawyer who gives you candid advice
and council you can trust, someone with enough perspective to step back
from an issue and look at it from all perspectives.
Client-lawyer relationships are very limited within a pre-paid legal plan.
Because of “preventive” nature of most plans, your contact with your
lawyer will be limited on many occasions. You seldom get to talk to your
lawyer face-to-face – as most of the consultation is done over the phone
– and even when you get to talk to them, it’s difficult to build rapport
when your office consultations are limited to a dozen hours a year.
The good news, however, is you still have some options left. When you sign
up for a legal plan, you get to choose your lawyer and there is a number of
steps you can take to increase the likelihood of getting a good lawyer.
First, you need to ask for referrals from previous clients. Ask around
about good attorneys in the network. Once you get a few names, check their
educational background, their qualifications and their professional track
record with your state’s bar association.
After you receive your referrals, don’t shy away from setting up interviews
with attorneys in the network. Most don’t mind receiving enquiries about
what they do and how able there are. |Ask tough questions: How long have
they been in practice? How satisfied are their previous clients? How many
legal problems of interest to you have they taken recently?
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Group legal plans
Group legal plansGroup legal plans in the workplace have experienced rapid growth recently
because of their usefulness to both employer and employee alike.
For the employee, a group legal plan is a cheap way to get legal coverage
in much the same way as other traditional benefits. For as little as $20
per month deducted from payroll, an employee is put in touch with an
attorney who can draft his will, buy or refinance a home, adopt a child
and plan an estate. Unlimited legal advice is offered at no cost to the
employee.
The benefits for the employer include increased efficiency and
productivity from their workforce, and reduced administration costs to
handle personal matters. Another very attractive benefit is the very low
cost involved in researching and implementing a group legal plan. In fact,
such plans cost employers very little in terms of time and investment.
Group plans are structured on a voluntary basis, paid for through payroll
deductions from the workforce. Additionally, the carrier handles all the
claims, redundant paperwork and customer service related to the plan.
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Group Legal plans benefits for employer and employee
Group Legal plans benefits for employer and employeeA properly developed group legal insurance plan can be the perfect
complement to any employer’s work life initiative. Considering that many
employees are nowadays increasingly swayed by benefit options when making
career decisions, Legal insurance is a viable product for many employers.
However, there is no single fit-for-all group legal plan for all
organizations. For a start, each organization has a distinct list of
requirements when contracting for legal insurance. A requirement built on
the premise of reduced administrative costs will require a different set
of legal services than requirements built on enhancing a benefits package
or protect against liability.
Legal plans also vary in what they offer: the quality of their customer
service, flexibility of plan design and finally the experience and
professional track record of their panel of attorneys.
In order to minimize the risk of poor service and plummeting employer
satisfaction, an employer should conduct both requirements analysis
amongst its employee base to cover for their difference needs, and a due
research to select the most appropriate legal plan to fit those
requirements based on experience, integrity and track record.
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Differences between Pre-Paid and Legal Plans
Differences between Pre-Paid and Legal PlansIt is not uncommon to see the terms “legal plans” and “pre-paid legal
services” used interchangeably. While they share a lot of characteristics
in common, there are a number of differences you should be aware of.
Both of these terms refer to an arrangement whereby you pay a fixed monthly
or yearly fee in exchange for legal services. The idea behind them is to
save consumers on high legal fees whilst offering a valuable service.
That’s where the differences lie: what kind of service is offered and what
is covered. What are you entitled to in both schemes?
Pre-paid services cover for specific legal services: free phone
consultation and advice, drafting of simple wills and trusts, review of
sample contracts and writing of letters on your behalf. Legal services not
provided will get charged at regular attorney fees, but you may be eligible
for discounts.
Legal insurance, by contrast, works much like other insurance plans, like
health or car insurance. Although specific legal services are offered at
times, your insurance provider will typically offer a policy that covers
for all legal services. The policy will pay on behalf of you, the policy
holder, or reimburse all expenses, costs or fees that you pay for legal
services up to the policy limit. For instance, your policy might reimburse
any fees incurred in your court judgments or pay your bail money – a
service not provided by most pre-paid legal plans.
Your legal insurance is also pegged to other insurance policies you may
already have. If you run into legal problems involving your other
insurance, then your legal insurance policy will protect you against loss
or liability. For instance, if you are involved in a car accident when your
auto-insurance has already run out and you are subsequently sued for
recovery of damages, you will be protected by a legal plan insurance.
The other difference between the two schemes is related to your choice of
attorney. In a pre-paid legal service, you get to choose from a restricted
number of the attorneys in the network. By contrast, a legal insurance plan
provides legal coverage regardless of attorney. You are free to set up
interviews with any number of attorneys and choose the ones you think will
provide the best service for your personal legal needs.
Finally, pre-paid legal plans are much more accessible to the general public. Legal plans are harder to come by as only a limited number of insurance companies offer such arrangements.
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Comprehensive access plansIf you are a member of a pre-paid access plan and are not getting the legal
services you think you need, then it is probably time to upgrade to a more
comprehensive plan.
A comprehensive prepaid legal service plan is designed to cover for the
majority of your legal service needs in a given year. Access services, such
as legal advice and information by toll-free number and follow-up service,
are provided at no cost to you. It’s in the realm of more complex legal
matters that require more time and effort from your attorney, that the
comprehensive plan is more beneficial than a basic, access plan. You can
have your trust set up, instead of a simple will, and a more complicated
business sale contract drawn up as opposed to a simple contract. Legal
representation can equally be provided in court for some cases, such as
child custody.
Comprehensive prepaid plans are most suitable for people who need business
advice, have family trusts or own real estates properties.
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A few common services offered by Pre-paid legal plans
A few common services offered by Pre-paid legal plans...
A run-down of services you will receive
Considering a pre-paid legal plan? He’s a run-down of the services
you’re most likely to get and also some legal documents you need to sign
before you enrol.
Telephone and Office Consultation: You have unlimited telephone access to
a panel of attorneys regarding any legal matter of interest to you. You
can also make brief consultation visits to your lawyer for up to 30
minutes per day at no cost to you.
The only condition placed on these two benefits is that you enquire about
a different legal matter.
This aspect of coverage provided by legal plans is one of the most
beneficial because it promotes preventive law. Preventive law is very much
like preventive medicine – it helps in anticipating potential problems and
taking the appropriate legal steps so that unnecessary legal problems or
risks are avoided. With a simple phone call to your lawyer you can avoid
getting embroiled in a hellish legal situation, and you can even identify
legal rights you don’t even know you had.
Follow-Up Service: The panel of lawyers will write letters and make phone
calls on your behalf to adverse third parties. Such follow-up service may
be all it takes to solve many of your legal problems.
Legal document review: Simple personal legal documents, such as your
insurance policies, sales contracts and leases will be reviewed. Any
questions of legal nature that you have about the documents will also get
answered by your attorney.
Drafting of wills: A will is a written document that regulates how you want
your property distributed after your death. Your attorney will draft your
will according to your state’s laws so that it’s valid when you die. He
will also advise you on any provisions you might want to consider, such as
appointing a guardian and establishing a trust.
Discount on regular fees: Any additional services not covered in the
written fee agreement will be at regular fees – either hourly or flat –
with a discount between 20 to 30%. These services generally include family
matters, such as divorce and the custody of children, and court
representation, such as traffic tickets and lawsuits.
Some of the legal paperwork you need to read carefully, agree on and sign
include the following:
Written fee agreement: This is an agreement that outlines what services are
provided in the plan, how much it costs and the methods of payment.
Grievance procedure: This document details the procedures that will be
taken by the provide to resolve any complaints about attorneys or disputes
regarding service fees.
For More Information About Common services Click Here
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Benefits of Pre-paid legal plans
Benefits of Pre-paid legal plansPre-paid legal services can be a very attractive alternative to hiring a
lawyer for many people. You should consider the importance and relative
priority of these benefits in light of your own legal needs.
So what are the benefits going pre-paid compared to conventional hire of
lawyers?
Benefit Number 1: Cost-EffectivePre-paid legal plans can take the sting out of hiring a lawyer. Lawyers’
fees are prohibitive for most people: you can run bills of thousands of
dollars and this is simply out of reach of most working and middle-class
families.
With pre-paid plans, what you get charged is more in line with what you
pay for your health or home insurance. Plans start as low as $9 per month
and typically don’t exceed the $30 mark.
Benefit Number 2: Simplicity There is a number of very complicated set of fees lawyers charge:
contingency fees, flat fees, statutory fees and hourly rates. In the case
of contingency and statutory fees, you have to get into the intricate
details of how these fees are computed – say for a contingency fee how
much is the lawyer’s commission? – and their regulatory nature – who
regulates the statutory fee and how do I know if these fees are in line
with regulatory guidelines?-.
The other two types of fees can be equally as complex. Increasingly,
attorneys choose to incorporate any overheads they incur, like secretarial
expenses, parking charges and travel fees into their flat and hourly fees.
They can also set a minimum number of billing units, like three tenths of
an hour (18 minutes), irrespective of how long it takes them to deal with
your problem.
This is just a sample rundown of what might influence the various fees
charged by lawyers, other factors and arrangements can apply too. Contrast
this with the simplicity in which pre-paid legal services are priced and
furnished. The process is simple and straightforward: you sign an agreement
to pay a fixed monthly fee and that’s about it. If what you’re looking for
is not covered, your plan provider will give you a prior notice of a
different billing so that you know exactly how much you will be charged.
Benefit Number 4: Pre-emptive LawPre-paid plans offer unlimited phone consultation and advice. This aspect
of the service can save you a lot of trouble, money and time in the
future. Most legal problems you are likely to face in your day-to-day life
can be solved if you take the necessary steps in line with the law. With
the right advice and consultation with your lawyer, you can detect legal
blunders before they occur and hence minimize the risk of litigation and
protection.
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Are Pre-paid services worth the money?You may be covered when it comes to health, life, car or home insurance…
but what about legal coverage?
The question is not if you'll need a lawyer, but when: according to the
American Bar Association (ABA) “Americans have come to view legal
assistance as a necessity”. Yet, most Americans have not used a lawyer
more than once due to the sky high attorney fees – anywhere from $100 to
$1000 per hour – and the trepidation involved in the search for legal
services.
Prepaid legal insurance might just be the answer you have been looking
for. The concept is simple: for a fixed monthly subscription, you get
telephone access to advice from a lawyer. You pay a fixed amount in
advance each month to defray the cost of legal services furnished in the
future. These services span various areas of the law, anywhere from reviews
of simple legal documents and the writing of a simple will to more
comprehensive coverage of trials, divorce, bankruptcy and real estate
issues.
Pre-paid legal coverage is a very attractive proposition for people who
don’t have the resources to retain a lawyer on a regular basis whenever
they need assistance. You effectively have a network of attorneys you can
use as retainer to seek preliminary advice about what the issues are and
how the procedures work whenever legal matters arise. Services not covered
by the plan are available to members for a discount on regular hourly rates
or flat fees.
A hard fact, however, is that more than half of new subscribers drop out of
a prepaid
plan after their first year. One reason could be that many members do not
require any legal assistance during their first year, so opt out. Another
reason is the scope of services offered, which are very basic and limited
in nature. Most plans have certain caps or maximums as far as benefits
provided are concerned, and purport to offer discount on standard attorney
fees instead. However, by virtue of simply calling around by yourself you
could probably negotiate a lower rate.
Another problem with pre-paid legal plans is the likelihood of getting
assigned to a novice attorney. Because of cost considerations, many of the
companies behind per-paid services assign trainee or inexperienced
attorneys to handle phone consultation and drafting of simple legal
documents. You are also less likely to build rapport and understanding,
two of the most important attributes of choosing a good attorney, as over
90% of the work is done over the phone.
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