It's benefits time again here at work and this year they are offering a new legal plan by ARAG. Basically for $20/month, they provide stuff like telephone legal advice, online law guide and document library, document preparation, review, wills, identity theft services, financial and tax planning servcies, and reduced fees for non-covered matters. I have never needed a laywer in my life (yet?), but I do need to get a will done, and wouldn't mind some legal financial and tax planning advice. If I do this for a year, will it be worthwhile, or will I just get a generic type thing (i.e., can I get the same thing using a $50 Will Maker software, or just by online research)? Also, if I ever get into legal trouble (hopefully not), I assume this sort of service will provide only minimal coverage, but I don't know. Is anybody familiar with these pre-paid plans, and are they worthwhile? Thanks, Dom
Heh, that may backfire on the company, you could sue them for less. My father is a member of Pre-Paid Legal Inc. (NYSE: PPD). As a gift, he put me under his plan as well, which for me is nice, in case I need to whip out the lawyer card. The whole thing is setup like legal insurance for the unexpected's, ex. Workers Comp issues, Contracts, Employee Rights, Accidents, Violations, False Arrest, Divorce and anybody that screams "I'm going to sue you!" They have an entire network of specialty lawyers on the plan to handle whatever comes up. According to my father, its quite the savings than walking into a lawyers office and dropping a wad just to look at him for an hour. I would agree.
Hate to disagree with you Gabe on this but for $25 or $30 a month x 12, $300 to $360 a year, my plan restricted me to just mail or fax communication with their affiliate law firm for my city. No face-to-face, no phone consultation. Anything beyond writing a letter on the client's behalf would require a retainer. This was with the most well known of the prepaid purveyors. If the money that I paid into it could be applied towards that retainer, then I would truly consider it "pre-paid." However, it didn't. How much would it cost to have some attorney, picked at random, write a letter on your behalf seeking some kind of action from someone? $100? How many of those did you need over the past couple of years? On the surface, it sounds like a great idea. But compared to the limited services you actually get when you need the services, I found Pre-Paid Legal to be a waste of money. You would do better paying for legal services as you need them, ala carte. At least you would be meeting with someone face-to-face. I wonder what kind of commissions the salesmen make on the policies? KevFla KevFla
While Kev may be correct about his "pre-paid legal" plan he cannot be describing Pre-Paid Legal Services from Ada Ok which is the company that originated pre-paid legal plans in the US. Like any other service you need to shop and compare and then decide if your circumstances warrant signing up. Here are some comparisons. You receive an 800 number to a law firm in your state and they are available during normal business hours. I call them about once a month and have never waited over four hours to have an attorney return my call. If you are being detained by an officer an attorney takes your call immediately 24/7. Your legal fees are covered within certain limits if you are the party being sued. If you are doing the suing you may have to post a retainer but the legal fees are at a 25% discount. The number of calls to an attorney is unlimited. You are limited to one letter per legal situation. I agree that was correct for the plan you signed on with. However you were not with Pre-Paid Legal Services. For example American Express and Bank of America offer plans that are pratically worthless. You have to evalute your situation to decide if you need such a service. I own a small business and use them extensively even though my brother is a partner in a local legal firm. Do you travel extensively or drive a truck or have teenage drivers? The speeding ticket representation can save you thousands on your insurance premiums. Do you have elderly parents and need advice? With their assistance at no charge I recently closed my mother-in-laws estate. Without them we would have spent 1500 to 2000 at least on attorney's fees. That's about five to eight years worth of membership fees. Here is the link to our agents website for more information. http://www.prepaidlegal.com/info/aoates
Thanks for the replies guys. Just to make something clear, this is not Pre-Paid Legal (the company). This company is called ARAG, and the plan is being offered by my employer. The price is $20/month. I am starting to think it may be a waste of time for me. Other than a will, I really don't need any other legal services for the forseable future (I hope!). Darth, thanks for the info about we the people, looks interesting. Dom
