A prepaid legal service is an online facility that gives its members access to a quality, pre-screened law firm at a nominal monthly charge. The logic behind such a service is simple: Legal problems are everywhere and commonplace and you don’t know when one can hit you – Quality legal help is difficult to find and very expensive as well – therefore, it makes sense to become a member of a prepaid legal service because it has empaneled quality legal professionals whose services are available at discounted rates.
Prepaid legal service firms hire legal professionals after thoroughly screening them and verifying their track record. When a member signs up – the fees are about $25 a month – the prepaid legal service firm gives him a toll-free number to call whenever he faces a legal situation. This cuts out a whole lot of searching and finding time, as the member doesn’t have to fill in forms, run around to find a good lawyer or have to spend a whole lot of money on quality legal help.
So, who benefits by joining a prepaid legal service firm? Well, the answer is – just about everyone, except the lawyers themselves. The biggest beneficiary of this service is the average Joe, who faces issues regularly that might require legal help. Examples of these issues can range from buying a car to writing a will to issues with insurance companies to identity theft to much more complex problems.
5 Advantages of a Prepaid Legal Service
- Many people do not consult legal professionals on issues they ought to. Examples of these issues are: (i) buying or selling a home, (ii) being handed over a speeding ticket, (iii) conflicts with entities that do not return a security deposit in full, and (iv) writing a will. Such issues require legal help and if the average Joe goes about fixing them on his own, he might stumble on a few technical loopholes and create a mess out of them. One of the biggest advantages of Prepaid legal service firms is that it brings quality professional legal firms to the doorstep of the common man. Even people who require legal help find the process of finding quality legal help quite cumbersome – prepaid legal service firms can help them too.
- Legal firms are very expensive – they want to the client to pay a retainer or an hourly rate; some are picky about their clients and there is a wall to be cleared and money to be spent before hiring a legal firm. To explain things to a lawyer might cost a few hundred Dollars and one is not even sure if justice will be delivered! These hassles are done away with when one signs up with a prepaid legal service.
- Identity theft is a common crime in America and many people fall prey to it regularly. Once identity is stolen, the legal issues mount – credit card companies and banks have to be dealt with, credit bureaus have to be contacted, and disputes have to be resolved. Prepaid legal services offer an identity theft shield package that, for a very small price, monitors your credit report and helps in identity restoration.
- When you join a prepaid legal service facility, you pay a nominal amount – say about $300/year (which is less than the cost of a medical cover plan!), but the benefits you derive far outweigh the costs. For starters you get free legal help for specified situations such as preparing a property deed or a will, and you get access to a library of legal documents with each draft worth over hundreds of Dollars! Then, you can also avail of quality professional legal help at discounted rates.
- The lawyers empaneled by the prepaid legal service are experts in a wide range of laws – civil, criminal and family. So, when you sign up with such a service, you will get access to legal experts in any legal issue that you face. In the sense, you don’t have to run around looking for specialists in a particular law – they’re all there registered with the prepaid service.
This was about prepaid legal services. Remember, you must make full use of such a service, so just don’t join one for the heck of it – enroll only when you are or are likely to be embroiled in legal tussles, or if you want to use of the free forms and services provided by them. Read the terms and conditions carefully and check on the firm before joining up. Good luck.