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All of us can expect to face many legal issues during our lives. Almost everything we do―attending a school, renting an apartment, getting married, becoming parents, getting divorced, even dying―is governed by law. If a legal situation occurs in your family (your daughter gets a DUI, your family business goes under, or your parents need estate planning help) will you know what to do?
Turning to a traditional lawyer may not be the answer. Today, you have a range of options—everything from buying a do-it-yourself law book, to working with an independent paralegal, to hiring a lawyer. Knowing your options will make you a better informed user of the legal system and increase your ability to handle legal matters on your own.
Whether you decide to work on your own or with a lawyer, here are some practical ways to keep legal costs down.
Do-It-Yourself. If your legal matter is straightforward and uncontested, you can save thousands of dollars in legal fees by handling the matter yourself. Many legal consumers write their own wills and trusts, file for divorce, buy and sell homes, enter into sales contracts, lease property and start small businesses with the aid of do-it-yourself legal products. You will find resources ranging from form kits with boilerplate promissory notes to highly sophisticated interactive software that is capable of generating customized, state specific legal forms. Do-it-yourself legal assistance is also available online.
Online Help. Don’t forget to explore online options for obtaining legal help. Myriad Web sites offer legal information, legal forms and direct legal services, at a fraction of the fee a lawyer would charge. It’s important to shop around. Some Web sites offer an extensive array of legal forms with little or no instruction. Others, like www.legalzoom.com and www.completecase.com, offer customized forms, especially for uncontested legal matters like writing a will or trust, getting an uncontested divorce, or filing for bankruptcy. While service models vary, you will typically answer a series of questions online that are pertinent to your legal matter and that information is used to create a customized legal document for you.
Nonlawyer Legal Service Providers. Depending on where you live, you can save a substantial amount of money by using a nonlawyer legal service provider (sometimes called an independent paraglegal or legal document preparer). Popular in states like Arizona, California and Utah, these nonlawyer professionals advertise their services in local newspapers and telephone books and offer assistance with routine, uncontested legal matters such as filing for bankruptcy, getting a divorce and writing a will. Some businesses, such as We the People (www.wethepeopleusa.com), have franchises in many states and use nonlawyer professionals to help keep consumers’ costs down. Nonlawyer legal service providers are being considered by more and more states as a viable alternative to full attorney representation.
Legal Hotlines. If you are 60 years of age or older, you may qualify for free legal assistance over the telephone. A growing number of states now sponsor “legal hotlines” which are designed to expand or improve the delivery of legal assistance to older individuals with social or economic needs. Attorneys staffing the hotlines answer legal questions and give legal advice. Service is limited to phone advice, but some hotlines will agree to provide additional brief services such as reviewing a document or writing a letter, though a fee may be charged for such service.
Legal Service Plans. Check to see if you belong to a group legal service plan through your employer, union or trade association. Group plans offer services such as telephone counseling, legal document review, and follow-up letters and phone calls. Such plans may be offered as a free employee benefit, or require a very small contribution on your part.
If you don’t belong to a group plan, you can look into joining a prepaid legal service plan. Offered to private individuals, these plans offer the same kind of services typically require an annual membership fee of $25 or less. However, if you need legal assistance, it’s still important to explore your options. You can often find help just as cheaply, and sometimes more competently, outside of a plan.
Sometimes a legal situation requires a lawyer’s assistance. For example, if your legal issue is complex, if substantial money is involved, if you’ve been charged with a crime or if you just feel more comfortable with full-service legal representation, you may want to hire a lawyer. There are specific things you should do before and after you hire a lawyer to help keep your legal costs down.
Shop carefully. One of the best ways to ensure you won’t pay more for legal services than you should is by hiring the right attorney at the start. To do that, you need to shop carefully, much as you would for any big purchase. Lawyers develop expertise in different areas of the law so you shouldn’t hire a divorce lawyer to help you seal the deal on a real estate transaction. Comparative shopping for a lawyer helps you to: understand the range of services and prices available; compare differing views on your legal problem; and select a lawyer who is likely to handle your case as you expect and at a price you can afford. You can often get reliable attorney referrals from relatives, friends and business associates and you can also find lawyers through their advertisements in local newspapers and phone books and through online Web sites such as nolo.com, avvo.com, findlaw.com and lawyers.com. The first two Web sites, Nolo and Avvo, provide attorney ratings and profiles to help you make your decision.
Explore alternative working arrangements. Instead of hiring a full-representation lawyer, consider hiring someone to help you on an hourly fee basis. This type of arrangement lets you consult with an attorney as needed, for example to write a letter, review a document, research a legal question or offer a legal opinion. Because you handle most of the legal task yourself (say, creating a living trust), and only ask for the lawyer’s help when needed (reviewing the tax implications of your trust), you can save substantial amounts of money and have piece of mind.
Stay Involved. You cannot simply hand over your problem to a lawyer and wait for results—unless you don’t care about the results or the cost. Remember, your lawyer works for you, not vice-versa. Insist at the outset that you want to stay involved and be kept informed of any new developments in your case. You can minimize costs by distinguishing what needs to be taken care of, and then doing some of those tasks yourself. You can gather information and contact numbers, line up witnesses, prepare documents and run errands. Reducing tasks for your lawyer should result in a fee reduction for you.
Review billing statements. When you receive your lawyer’s bill, make sure you understand what you are being charged for—don’t be afraid to question discrepancies or to ask about charges you don’t understand. Reviewing your bills is one of the best ways to let your lawyer know you are on top of things and that you do not expect to be charged more than you should be.
HALT Publications: HALT has a series of Citizens Legal Manuals on topics ranging from using a lawyer to estate planning to small claims court. We also publish an ever-growing number of guides compiled into the Everyday Law Series and a series of Citizens Legal Guides such as Where Do I Go For Legal Help and I Have a Problem with My Lawyer. Contact: HALT, 1612 K St. NW, Ste. 510, Washington, DC 20006, call: (888) 367-4258, or visit www.halt.org.
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