Prepaid legal plans are allowing average folks to protect
themselves legally by giving access to great lawyers and
law professionals for just a couple of cents a day. Despite
the rate at which lawsuits are developing, prepaid legal
in the United States has still not been adopted generally.
Prepaid legal plans are widely used in Europe, but even
though there is a large need for it in America, PPL is
a potentially virgin market. Prepaid legal services are
plans in which a purchaser pays a monthly charge and in
return is able to receive certain limited kinds of legal
services.
If your are challenged by a legal situation today or
if you are a business owner and you happen to require
the help of a lawyer, could you come up with enough cash
reserves to remunerate the attorney for his legal services?
A PPL plan would act almost as a legal insurance in such
a case, altough with some noticeable differences...
There is no set pattern for the services covered under
a legal services plan. In a legal services plan when the
situation requires staff or a selection of lawyers, the
lawyers will be paid by the plan and the lawyers will
never charge the customer for the covered benefits. Some
plans offer a reduction for a selection of services like
real estate closings and other realty related legal matters,
tax preparation, wills, lawyer assistance for tax audits
and also for cases of bankruptcy. Remember the possibility
of such a coverage when evaluating whether a particular
legal service plan applies to your own needs. If you select
wisely you may find that for less than a dollar a day
you can have access to services previously reserved to
the rich people.
Try contacting the Insurance Commissioner’s office
from your State to obtain the list of companies that are
offering PPL services in your area. By then visiting one
or another of their websites you will be able to gather
many usefull information about the different prepaid legal
services plans. The most basic plan is the individual
or the so called family plan but many legal service plans
also offer basic legal business coverage. An important
point to remember is that prepaid legal services are not
designed to solve an ongoing legal issue.
Some insurance company may issue contracts for the payment
of future legal costs. The general concept is similar
to healthcare, home or auto insurance. But prepaid legal
services plans are not really insurance in the traditional
sense of the word. Many persons still call these plans
“legal insurance". The difference is that prepaid
legal plans will operate as a preventative legal policy
that will limit the overall financial liability and expenses
of the customer much like health insurance would. Also
note that you may already have some legal coverage from
your other insurance policies such as home or car insurances.
As a word of caution, I really hope that Prepaid Legal
customers know the other side of the coin: In the past
some PPL companies faced lawsuits where the contracted
customers claimed that the service didn't do what it was
supposed to do. The real benefit of a Prepaid Legal Plan
is the counseling it affords. For definite litigation
it isn't of much help. But Prepaid Legals can help keep
legal costs under control by enabling you to budget legal
counseling with an annual payment as opposed to paying
at the last minute when something urgent arises. Altough
prepaid legals are not designed to solve a preexisting
legal issue they may be the basis of a great and affordable
legal shelter plan.
