Family Legal Plan

When you or a family member has a legal concern, wouldn’t it be great to just pick up the phone, and not have to worry about the cost? Well now you can do just that! With access to a nationwide network of plan attorneys, you, your spouse, and eligible dependents* can call any time during normal business hours (8:00 AM to 8:00 PM EST) for a referral to an attorney with whom you can consult about any new legal matter and your initial consultation is free. The plan attorney will discuss your legal questions with you and assist you in deciding upon a course of action. The plan attorney will consult with you, review important legal documents (6 page maximum), or draft a Simple Will, all at no charge**delivers results.

Free Legal Services for Members:

• Initial phone consultation for each new legal matter (no time limit)
• Initial face-to-face consultation for each new legal matter (no time limit)
• Review of independent legal documents (6 page maximum per document per new legal matter, 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***
• 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)

NOTE: In certain situations, attorney liability may require plan attorneys to ask for a retainer from the member prior to providing some of the free legal services.

Plan attorneys will provide extended legal care at the reduced hourly rate of $125.00, 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.

Plan attorneys provide a 10% reduction on contingency fees either from the state maximum rate or the attorney’s usual rate, whichever is lower.

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.

* Membership in family legal plan includes the member, their spouse or domestic partner, their children 25 and younger and any dependent living in the member's home who may be dependent upon them, such as a parent or grandparent.

**Matters involving disputes or actions between members and family legal plan or its plan sponsors, agents or their officers, directors or employees are specifically excluded from eligibility of this plan. Court costs, filing fees and travel to and from any courts are excluded from discounted rates under any of the discounted pricing described in this fee schedule.

***SIMPLE WILL: A will distributing personal property and homestead and not involving trusts, specific bequests, real estate, tax matters, guardianships, living wills, health care proxies or partitions.

To utilize your family legal plan, simply call the 1800 number you are provided. After presenting the customer service representative with your name and membership number or case number and the type of legal matter you have, you will be provided with the toll-free number to contact to obtain the name, address, and telephone number of an attorney who can assist you with your legal matter.