Prepaid Legal Service Plans

Many lesser-income individuals in America need the help of a lawyer but are unable to afford one. Prepaid legal service plans offer affordable legal services to middle-income individuals and families.

 

Prepaid plans emphasize preventive law. By allowing a plan member easy access to an attorney, legal problems can be avoided or resolved quickly. This article explains how prepaid legal service plans work. It also outlines the types of legal services normally available through such plans.

Prepaid Legal Service Plans’ Coverage

 

A legal service plan generally covers the plan member and the member’s immediate family, including a spouse and unmarried dependent children residing with the member.

How Prepaid Legal Service Plans Work

 

Prepaid plans operate like a legal insurance plan. For a small monthly fee, a plan member (or sometimes an employer or union) prepays for legal services that might be needed in the future. The fee entitles the plan member to basic services. Basic services include legal advice, telephone consultation, review of legal documents, drafting a simple will, letters on behalf of the plan member, and warranty problems. More comprehensive legal service plans cover marital issues, bankruptcies, representation in court, and real estate matters.

Group Legal Services Plans

 

Under a group legal services plan paid for by an employer or union or other group, a plan member is referred to a lawyer who provides basic legal advice without further charge to the plan member. Group legal services plans do not require any prepayment. Also, plan members may be charged significantly reduced fees for additional legal services outside of the usual services provided under the plan.

Copyright 2012 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.