Pre Paid Legal Services - Is there a need?
The following post, posted by acm21, Lawyers charging $1,000 a hour, is why Pre-Paid Legal is so IMPORTANT to Lower and Middle Class Families
PRE PAID LEGAL'S LIFE EVENTS PLANS
$26 per month for Individuals and Families
$12.95 per month for the Identity Theft Shield (Stand Alone)
$40.50 per month for Home-based Buisinesses (includes the $26 plan)
$75 per month for Small Businesses (1 - 50 employees)
$125 per month for Small Business (51 to 99 employees)
Go ahead, have a peace of mind and sign up NOW or to become an Associate to represent Pre-Paid Legal Services for ONLY $49 plus your monthly membership fee go to
www.prepaidlegal.com/hub/rstephens
Take a look at these astonishing Facts:
There is an incredible shortfall of justice in society today!
In the next few years prepaid legal services and legal insurance will become common household names like auto, homeowners and health insurance.
Each individual in America is nearly three times more likely to end up in court than in a hospital. The average American family has from four to six legal issues arise every year that could greatly affect their economic well-being and quality of life. Most Americans see access to health care as a necessity, but not access to legal services. While it is understandable that most people would consider access to health care extremely important, it is puzzling why lack of access to legal care is not seen as equally important. Whether it is a lack of knowledge that legal services are needed, or the knowing avoidance of incurring the stress and high costs of legal representation, many Americans are not seeking the legal advice they need.
Prepaid Legal Services give moderate-income families access to competent legal advice, for a low monthly charge. At the very least, these plans can help families identify those potential legal problems to which they need to respond to most urgently.
Lack of access to the legal system for low and middle-income families.
Some of Americans' failure to seek legal advice can be attributed to ignorance. However, there is data to suggest that in many circumstances people know they need legal representation, but fail to obtain it. A 1994 survey conducted by the American Bar Association revealed that 61% of moderate income Americans with legal problems did not interact with the legal system. Considering that the average family has four to six legal issues arise per year that leaves an enormous number of legal problems that are going unaddressed.
Even more striking, in 1990 52% of the divorces in America were obtained without either party having the assistance of an attorney. And in 88% of divorces, at least one party was self-represented or failed to appear. It is a reasonable assumption that most Americans understand a divorce to be a legal proceeding. Presumably, most people think their interests would best be served in such a proceeding by hiring an attorney. Thus, the lack of legal representation for divorcing parties is most likely attributable to high cost. Most Americans either cannot afford, or believe they cannot afford, the services of an attorney, even when they know they need one.
Pre Paid Legal allow members to use attorneys much like they use doctors in a health plan. The concept behind legal plans is to receive legal advice in early stages of a dispute to prevent high legal bills. The plans make lawyers affordable and provide a measure of quality control. If a member is dissatisfied with the appointed attorney, he/she can complain to the sponsoring administrator or organization. An unhappy client of a private attorney has little recourse, except when an illegal act has been committed.
Pre Paid Legal promote preventive law by making it cheaper to get legal advice. Legal plans help to get individuals, families and business owners to the right lawyers to get help rather than paying for catastrophic legal bills later. Anyone who isn’t wealthy and who doesn’t have a family lawyer, that is an expert in approximately 100 specialties of law, generally is better off with a plan than without one.
Success Magazine said, “Only the wealthiest 10 percent of our population can afford legal services. The bottom 10 percent have access to the public defender system or the Legal Services Corporation. The middle 80 percent can’t afford to pay what a competent lawyer charges – anywhere from $125 to $300 per hour. If they do hire an attorney, it mostly comes out of their own pockets and generally only after the situation becomes a crisis, which can further escalate legal costs.”
Consider the following statistics from the National Center for State Courts: There were 100million lawsuits filed in 1997. That’s an average of 273,973 per day, 11,415 per hour, 190 per minute, and nearly 3 per second; compared to 33 million hospitalizations in the same year as reported by the American Hospital Association. The legal statistics are increasing at an alarming rate every year; the numbers tell us that you are three times more likely to be in court than in the hospital this year!
The American Bar Association says that 52% of Americans have an on-going legal problem at any given time. One out of every two Americans will need the advice of an attorney during the next twelve months. Of these, nearly half will attempt to deal with the matter on their own.
“Most Americans do not seek legal help with legal needs because they feel it will not help and that it will cost too much. Other reasons are they feel they can handle the problem on their own, that a lawyers’ involvement will not help, and they do not know how to find a lawyer.” – Legal Needs and Civil Justice, 1994
The reality is that Prepaid Legal Plans are here to stay.
Now Is The Time!
Contact:
Reginald R. Stephens
Independent Associate
Small Business & Group Benefits Specialist
Phone 706.576.9452
rstephens1030@aol.com
www.prepaidlegal.com/hub/rstephens
Remember MARK YOU CALENDAR FOR SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 29, 2007 for one of the most Informative Programs about the legal system you'll ever see.
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