True Care Legal Benefit
The legal benefit is provided by a nationwide discount legal referral service. Attorneys in our network have an average of 19.4 years of experience.
Highlights
- A nationwide network of over 20,000 attorneys.
- Plan attorneys will either charge $125.00 per hour, or when appropriate, give members a 40% discount off their usual and customary hourly rate.
- Nine (9) free services* which include:
- Unlimited initial phone consultations for new legal matters
- Initial one-on-One consultations for new legal matters
- Attorney review of independent legal documents (6 page max.) per new matter
- When appropriate, network attorneys will write letters on member's behalf
- When appropriate, network attorneys will make phone calls on member's behalf
- Assistance in solving problems with government programs such as welfare and INS
- Assistance with small claims court representation
- Free simple will with annual updates
- Additionally, members have online access through the Legalclub.com website to prepare a free living will (advance healthcare directive)
Average Legal Service Costs
Capped fees* on eight commonly used legal services, which include:
| Traffic Ticket Defense | $ 89.00 |
| Name Change | $ 155.00 |
| Real Estate Closing | $ 250.00 |
| Chapter 7 Bankruptcy | $ 750.00 |
| Simple Divorce | $ 275.00 |
| Simple Will with Trust | $ 250.00 |
| Non-support (spouse/child) | $ 275.00 |
| Regular Incorporation | $ 295.00 |
Prices are subject to change without notice and may vary by region.
*Costs and filing fees additional, specific definitions apply.
Statistics
A survey conducted by the legal web site FindLaw found that:
- Only 44.4% of American adults currently have a will; 53.3% said they do not have a will, while 2.2% did not know or had no response.
- FindLaw survey, Most Americans Still Don't Have a Will, August, 2002 - Nearly one out of every five Americans faced a legal issue within the last year.
- FindLaw survey, One in Five Americans Faced a Legal Issue in the Past Year, August, 2002 - The top five legal issues faced by Americans during the last year are:
- Real Estate (buying/selling, property disputes, landlord-tenant disputes, etc.) at 21%
- Family Law (divorce, child custody, etc.) at 17%
- Estate Planning (wills, trust, settling of estates, etc.) at 12%
- Personal Injury at 11%
- Traffic Violations at 8%
- Personal injury, property damage, and wrongful death filings accounted for 77,205 cases in California alone between 2000 and 2001.
- Judicial Court of California, 2002 Court Statistics Report - 1,539,111 non-business bankruptcy cases were filed in 2002, accounting for 97.6% of all 2002 bankruptcies.
- Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Record Breaking Bankruptcy Filings Reported in Calendar Year 2002, 2/14/2003. - The average hourly rate of attorneys in the state of Texas was $197 in 2000.
- State Bar of Texas Department of Research and Analysis 2001 Hourly Rate Report