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pre paid legal?
- Thread starter NotSoNew
- Start date
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BadDecision
Member
dynomight77 said:
Yes, I am currently signed up with them. It is not bad, plus you can cancel it at anytime. The lawyer I was referred to has been great, plus if I need to hire him for court, I get a dicount on the fees.
oh good, i am glad there are some good ones. they said it was 24 dollars a month, no contract, you can cancel at any time then you get at least a 25% discount off the lawyers fees if you should need them to go to court! we really just need a lawyers brain to pick, so this sounded perfect.
IT's sort of a "crap shoot" in that you are hiring the SERVICE, rather than the individual Lawyer. So you get assigned whomever is available that is servicing that area at that time for them. I've talked to reps from some - they have no idea what vendors they'd use for services (process service, title services, etc.), whether the venders they do use for related services are competitive or not, and so on.
TO me, it's like a Medical Group. If I don't know in advance that a doctor I'd want is part of that group/clinic, and that I'd have access to them, I wouldn't want to be stuck using that group.
TO me, it's like a Medical Group. If I don't know in advance that a doctor I'd want is part of that group/clinic, and that I'd have access to them, I wouldn't want to be stuck using that group.
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BadDecision
Member
nextwife said:
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience!
I've been quite lucky with the service, the lawyer has been wonderful and I havn't experienced any troubles (yet)
I have worked with many good lawyers and many bad ones and sometimes people don't know til its too late...With that said, forking over a retainer of $5,000.00 only to have it used up and then find out the lawyer stinks is worse to me than paying a little up front with the ability to cancel without obligation when you find out same thing.
dynomight77 said:
I used a service during my initial custody proceedings when I was Pro Se. It did provide much in the way of consultations over the phone...however, there were still aspects which a retained attorney would need to be privy to in order to competently advise/direct.
I used them again during my second custody proceeding which actually went all the way to trial. The discount I received as a referral of the service I used, was a godsend. I was fortunate to get not only a Family Law attorney, but they were also a Family Law Specialist & Judge Pro Tem.
(I lucked out )If you are someone- as I was- who absolutely could not afford an attorney &/or had to make a critical financial decision re; whether or not to hire an attorney....I'd recommend it. However, I'd ask if they have references from other current/past members.
Whyte Noise
Senior Member
My personal experience with pre-paid legal (actual name of the company) was crap. Sure, the sales pitch sounded great, and my husband was wanting to do a custody/visitation/child support mod, so we paid the $26 a month. We were suposed to get a free consult with an attorney from a "top family law firm" in Missouri. Shyeah, right. This attorney was a local attorney. The "free consult" we were to get because of being pre-paid legal clients cost us $50 before we walked out of his door after the consult was done. He wanted a $500 to $1,000 retainer that we didn't have, so told him that we'd be back in touch if we came up with the money and decided to retain him. He wrote my husband letters over the next couple of months, "reminding" him that if he wanted to retain his services he needed to pay the retainer. THEN, we got a bill for the time this attorney spent writing the letter to try and solicit my husband's business! I posted about that here, but it was in 2002 and I can't get the thread to show in a search. He wasn't an attorney in a "top law firm" as stated by the pre-paid legal rep, he was a local schister who, upon checking him out, my husband decided he wouldn't want representing him in kangaroo court, much less a real one.
Pre-paid legal said we'd get "unlimited consultations" with an attorney at an 800 number, when in fact, that 800 number was just a lawyer referral service and they had no actual attorneys there at all.
We were going to be charged $200 for the "free" will we were supposed to get with the package.
It goes on and on, but you get the idea.
I've heard some people have had success with them, but I can only speak from my personal experience and I wouldn't ever use them again.
Pre-paid legal said we'd get "unlimited consultations" with an attorney at an 800 number, when in fact, that 800 number was just a lawyer referral service and they had no actual attorneys there at all.
We were going to be charged $200 for the "free" will we were supposed to get with the package.
It goes on and on, but you get the idea.
I've heard some people have had success with them, but I can only speak from my personal experience and I wouldn't ever use them again.
mattyndavidsmom
Member
regarding pre paid legal
I have prepaid legal and I can call them anytime and have them answer questions. I find they are helpful and depends on what attorney you talk to. Bad thing for me is that I don't live in a major city where they have a firm. So if I want to go any further then just questions, I have to have them refer me to a firm and I still get a discount but not the discount that I would normally get through prepaid legal. They have wrote letters for me on my behalf and if you are constantly needing advice, they are great. But if you live in an area where they don't have a firm and you need more then just advice or letters done then it could get more expensive. They did say they would refer me to a firm and that I would save 25% of the attorney fees. So yeah, they are good. They also have a database of forms if you want to file things with the court, you can look online for the form you need and use it.
I have prepaid legal and I can call them anytime and have them answer questions. I find they are helpful and depends on what attorney you talk to. Bad thing for me is that I don't live in a major city where they have a firm. So if I want to go any further then just questions, I have to have them refer me to a firm and I still get a discount but not the discount that I would normally get through prepaid legal. They have wrote letters for me on my behalf and if you are constantly needing advice, they are great. But if you live in an area where they don't have a firm and you need more then just advice or letters done then it could get more expensive. They did say they would refer me to a firm and that I would save 25% of the attorney fees. So yeah, they are good. They also have a database of forms if you want to file things with the court, you can look online for the form you need and use it.