Efficient Substitute? Or Costly Mistake? The Truth About Self-Help Legal Services

Business, Estate Planning and Administration, Real Propertyon September 20th, 20122 Comments

Over the past decade, the prevalence of “self-help legal services” has increased exponentially on the Internet through websites such as Legal Zoom, Rocket Lawyer, and NOLO.  These websites offer a number of legal documents, including wills and trusts, documents to incorporate, and real estate documents, which are filled in by the purchaser through a series of basic questions.  None of these documents, after being prepared automatically based on the consumer’s answers to basic questions, is ever reviewed or approved by an attorney.  The consumer is simply filling in the blanks of a form document.

The problem with this scenario in the arena of estate planning is that every estate plan is going to be unique.  Self-help fill-able forms will not take into account any of the unique circumstances of a given estate plan, nor does any self-help offer any legal advice as to what may be in the consumer’s best interest.  If the consumer is dead set on using a self-help legal service website, he or she should take the time to read the fine print on these websites.  For instance, Legal Zoom’s disclaimer contains the following: “We are not a law firm or a substitute for an attorney or law firm. We cannot provide any kind of advice, explanation, opinion, or recommendation about possible legal rights, remedies, defenses, options, selection of forms or strategies.”  Yet, despite the fine print, many consumers believe that any document purchased from a website such as Legal Zoom will be legally sufficient and fulfill all of that consumer’s goals and plans.  Many would be surprised to find out that their legal documents, albeit cheaper than hiring an actual attorney, may fail to achieve anything that the consumer purchased those legal documents for.  A consumer will find a similar outcome using these websites for other purposes, such as preparing deeds, incorporating a business, and filing trademark registrations.

Recently, Consumer Reports used each of the three self-help legal services websites above to create four legal forms: a will, a car bill of sale for a seller, a home lease for a small landlord, and a promissory note.  Each of these forms was then evaluated by three law professors in a blind test.  The verdict from the law professors:

Using any of the three services is generally better than drafting the documents yourself without legal training or not having them at all. But unless your needs are simple — say, you want to leave your entire estate to your spouse — none of the will-writing products is likely to entirely meet your needs. And in some cases, the other documents aren’t specific enough or contain language that could lead to “an unintended result.”

In short, if a consumer truly wants to be certain that his or her legal documents are legally sufficient to achieve all of that consumer’s goals, the consumer should consult an attorney, who will be able to ask all of the questions necessary to fully understand that consumer’s unique circumstances.

For more information on the Consumer Reports study, please visit: http://www.lawsitesblog.com/2012/09/self-help-legal-sites-no-match-for-real-lawyer-consumer-reports-says.html

 

Burger Legal, PLLC is prepared to assist clients with their unique circumstances and to make recommendations based on those unique circumstances.  If you need a will or trust, to incorporate a business, or to prepare a deed, lease or promissory note, please contact Burger Legal, PLLC at 336.705.1016 or info@burgerlegal.com, and the firm will be happy to assist you in achieving all of your unique goals.

2 Responses to “Efficient Substitute? Or Costly Mistake? The Truth About Self-Help Legal Services”

  1. Skip says:

    When my mother-in-law died, we were able to return to the lawyer who had prepared her will and he was ablew to get a court order to review here safe deposit box, then guided us through probate of her will. She trusted him and so did we. He handled everything, including dealing with the funeral home’s bill and a sticky problem selling her house. Using the will after she died required hiring an attorney anyway, and going back to the lawyer who wrote her will just made sense. After an online will, how would the family know where to go after their loss?

  2. Scott Burger says:

    The North Carolina State Bar and LegalZoom are now litigating over the primary issue of whether LegalZoom is conducting the unauthorized practice of law in North Carolina. LegalZoom initially sought a declaratory judgment from the North Carolina courts seeking confirmation that LegalZoom’s products/services do not constitute the practice of law in North Carolina. Prior to this action, the NC State Bar attempted to prohibit LegalZoom’s products/services from being offered in the state. The NC State Bar counterclaimed against LegalZoom in the company’s action.

    For more reading on the legal action, check out this article: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/north-carolina-state-bar-admits-its-lack-of-authority-to-ban-legalzoom-2012-09-27

    Please note LegalZoom’s main arguments are that the State Bar attempts to prohibit LegalZoom’s business constitute anti-trust violations (monopolization) and the State Bar aims “to deny citizens of North Carolina access to the protections of the law through self-help legal document services and prepaid legal services plans in the state.” In my view, the latter argument is aimed more at attempting to gain public support behind LegalZoom, since the public at large may not understand that LegalZoom, while a cheaper alternative to real legal services, is not a quality replacement for real legal services. As stated in the study above, using LegalZoom may be better than drafting a legal document yourself (assuming you do not have any legal training), but it pales in comparison to hiring a licensed attorney to assist you.

    As an aside to Skip’s comment above. An attorney is not required to handle estate administration in North Carolina, however, hiring an an attorney to assist (or handle) the entire process is usually very beneficial to the executor/executrix and the estate (and generally helps to ease a great deal of stress). There are a number of issues that can pop up during an estate administration and having the advice of an attorney to point those issues out and assist in resolving those issues is invaluable. Additionally, having an attorney assist in the process greatly decreases the odds of the estate needing to be re-opened down the road to correct an error or issue.

Leave a Reply

Please type the characters of this captcha image in the input box

Please type the characters of this captcha image in the input box

Visit Us On FacebookVisit Us On TwitterVisit Us On Linkedin