Family Legal Plan Planmember Guidebook

Index | Section 1 | Section 2 | Section 3 | Section 4

Section 2
Family Legal Plan Benefits

You and your family will have access to a nationwide network of plan attorneys that have contracted with Legal Care Direct™ to provide free and discounted legal services. Upon contacting our MSD, you will be referred to a plan attorney based on language, area of law, and location.

Benefit Features

Free Legal Services*:
The following nine (9) services are available at no charge from your plan attorney.

• Initial phone consultations for each new matter (no time limit).
• Initial face-to-face consultations for new legal matter (no time limit).
• Review of independent legal documents (6 page maximum per document, no limit to the number of new independent documents).
• Plan attorneys will prepare a free Simple Will for you and your family, as well as update the Will annually for free. (See definition of Simple Will in Section 3 of the Plan Guidebook).
• A state specific, web based, free Living Will form is available to Members. This form can be taken to a plan attorney and completed by the attorney for free.
• Plan attorneys will help Members represent themselves in small claims court.
• Assistance in solving problems with government programs, such as INS and Welfare.
• When deemed appropriate by your plan attorney, he or she will write letters on your behalf (one letter per legal matter, with no limit on the number of new legal matters).
• When deemed appropriate by your plan attorney, he or she will make phone calls on your behalf (one phone call per legal matter, with no limit on the number of new legal matters).

*In many states, attorney liability may require plan attorneys to obtain a retainer from the member prior to providing some of the free member benefits.

Deeply Discounted Legal Services**:
The following are eight (8) commonly used legal services for which plan attorneys have agreed to charge a one-time, deeply discounted fee.

Legal Services	Member Rate			Non-Member Rate
Traffic Ticket Defense Name Change Simple Will with Minors Trust Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Non-Support (Spouse/Child) Simple Divorce Regular Incorporation Personal Real Estate Closing	$89.00 $155.00 $250.00 $750.00 $275.00 $275.00 $295.00 $250.00			$199.00 $365.00 $530.00 $1,500.00 $1,490.00 $1,100.00 $585.00 $675.00

**Court costs, filing fees and time charged for travel to and from any courts are additional.

Detailed Legal Services definitions can be found in Section three (3) of the Legal Care Direct™ Plan Guidebook.

Guaranteed Low Hourly Rates:
Plan attorneys have contracted to charge no more than $125.00 per hour, or 40% off their usual and customary hourly rate, whichever is greater, for legal care that goes beyond the free and discounted services described above.

Retainers:
In the case of extended legal care, plan attorneys may ask you for a retainer. Any retainer sought will be computed by multiplying the number of hours a plan attorney believes a case will take, by the plan’s discounted hourly rate. For instance: 10 hours x $125.00 = a retainer of $1,250.00. Any unused portion of the retainer will be returned to you.

Contingency Fee Discounts:
The contingency fee discount will be a 10% reduction of the state maximum rate or the attorney's usual rate, whichever is lower.

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