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I've got a couple of friends and family members who are fans of "prepaid legal service". In this article, I share what I think of the idea based on my contact with lawyers, and I offer some alternatives to give piece of mind and the skills to better manage any legal issue you might encounter. - Garnet
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Insert here any disclaimer you find anywhere... This article is my personal opinion, and is not intended to substitute for seeking your own legal and financial counsel... |
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By Garnet R. Chaney
I do a lot of consulting work for lawyers, and with the amount of specialization in the legal field, I can't imagine that PrePaid
Legal could provide the experts in the specific fields that I might need help in. When you are in a legal battle, it's good to get a subject matter expert.
Prepaid Legal might be able to provide an OK generalist, but in my experience of finding lawyers to use for different issues, 4 out of 5 lawyers will take your money to do things that are really not all that helpful. Only one out of five will be honest enough to tell you when you don't really need a lawyer. I also have several lawyer friends who can help me with a just a bit of pointing me in the right direction. I try not to take too much advantage of that, but when they say things like "that's a lost cause", I listen carefully, since in my experience, many attorneys would happily take a ton of money to pursue the lost cause. I used to have a generalist lawyer for family law issues who I would contact with ideas of things I wanted him to do, and he was honest enough to say "That won't really do much for you other than make me rich...."
Prepaid legal, at it's best, is probably similar to those medical and dental discount groups you can get in: Go to one of our doctors, or dentists, and they'll agree to give x% discount. Those are great, but again, I have a good friend who is a dentist who actually did a root canal, and a bite guard for me for free! He takes welfare patients, and he's willing to take me as if I was on welfare while I've been a literature evangelist not making a lot of money! Now I know that it may not seem like a lot of help to the average person worried about their legal needs, but there is truth in the phrase "God will provide for His children". Also, Christians are counselled in the Bible to keep matters with other believers out of the courts, whenever possible.
It's also interesting that a search on Google for "prepaid legal" the second link is for www.ripoffreport.com and there are hundreds of reports against this service. I'll be happy to stipulate (fancy legal term I learned in my consulting, it basically means "I will agree with you") that many complaints about not making money are probably from people who didn't really work the system. My experience with network marketing opportunities is that 8 out of 10 people don't do the work necessary to have any chance of succeeding, and out of the two that do, only 1 of them seems to have enough luck at it to maintain them.
But still, the fundamental service is probably flawed for many reasons: generalists, low cost alternatives, not a substitute for your own education, too much emphasis on the "don't worry too much about the service, you can use this to make money". Let me explain some other options you should consider before buying a prepaid legal plan.
The best "prepaid" legal service is free: It's called your local bar association. In most areas, if you contact the local bar association, and tell them you need a referral, they will refer you to a local lawyer. Often these local lawyers have agreed to give initial meetings with prospective clients for a greatly reduced rate, sometimes as little as $25 for a 30 minute meeting.
The second best "prepaid" legal service is the Nolo press books at your local bookstore or library. It really pays to read up on your legal issue there, before you visit the attorney. It will help you understand what he is saying, and probably teach you a lot that he wouldn't tell you on his own. You can use what you learn to ask more intelligent questions, and to help you gather the right information to take to a lawyer to get an opinion. In fact, the knowledge in Nolo books are so useful that maybe I should list their books as the first best "prepaid" legal service.
The third best way to get good representation is: Setup appointments with three or four lawyers refered by the local bar association. Then from the consensus opinion, figure out what you should do. You'll probably get a good feel for which lawyer is most competent, and which one answers your questions most clearly, and which one seems to fit best with your personality. (I once chose a tech lawyer
from several choices based on the fact that this lawyer had a Linux penguin in his office, back before Linux was a household word! I knew he was the real deal.) But even if most of them tell you that you have a good case, listen very carefully if one of the lawyers tells you a good reason not to go forward, or tells you to just settle the case without taking it to court.
Here's my final suggestion for anyone who feels the need of a prepaid legal service plan: Take the monthly fee for the prepaid legal service, (plus any signup fee), and divide that by your hourly wage to arrive at a number of hours you would spend working to pay for the prepaid legal service. Then spend at least that amount of time each month browsing the law section of the local bookstore, and reading legal journals. Perhaps each month, use the money you would have spent on the prepaid legal service, and buy a Nolo press book on an area of law that you think might affect your life. Then read it. You'll gain much more piece of mind, and a great confidence and ability to find and manage your relationship with the right lawyer if you should ever need one. And you might learn enough to avoid some costly mistakes in the first place.
Oh, and sorry, I can't resist one more suggestion: Ask you friend how much money they will make if you signup for the prepaid legal service. If you're really feeling empathetic for their sincere desire to make money, and you are inclined to help them out, here are some ideas: Figure out how many times you'd like to have your car thoroughly cleaned for the amount of money they are trying to make, and offer them the job. Ditto the basement if you dare reveal that clutter to them. Offer to split with them 50/50 the money made if they will take the time to sell that stuff for you on ebay. Or, if you've got room for more stuff, you might even offer to spend that much money on ebay buying any items that they post for sale online. That will show you're not entirely cold hearted. And it might get them to think about a different, and possibly more realistic, way to make money.
More articles about prepaid legal plans:
(See also Why Haven't I Bought A Prepaid Legal Services Plan?)
