John Gear Law Office & Salem Consumer Law    503-569-7777
  • Welcome
  • Services Offered
  • Finding My Office
  • Law for Real People blog
  • Useful links

Planning to do your own root canal? Perhaps with a hygienist to assist?

9/11/2011

0 Comments

 
     Salem Weekly has an ad in the current issue for an outfit called "AffordableCourtDocuments.com," which styles itself as 'The Peoples [sic] Document Source' and offers to have you FILE BANKRUPTCY $399.99.  I hope they understand the law better than they understand possessive punctuation and verb tenses, but I rather doubt it:

Welcome to The Peoples Document Source.  The non-attorney paralegal team at The Peoples Document Source is at your service.  We offer affordable, reliable and fully prepare legal documents concerning a variety of disciplines. We offer Bankrutpcy Chapter 7 and 13.  We offer affordable Wills, and Uncontested Divorce with or without children.  We also offer criminal record expungments, name change, adoption, auto or home loan modification paperwork, and much more. All you do is sign and file.

     Word of advice: unless you are the kind of person who likes to do your own dentistry, run away from these people.  Their ad shows the classic balance-beam scales that have become a shorthand symbol for lawyers in the way that three gold balls have become the symbol for pawn shops.  (Oddly, pawnshops are better regulated than these people.)  Worse, their ad says "Low Cost Legal Help." 

     Funny, why doesn't it say "Low Cost Paralegal Help"?  Could it be that they want you to think you're getting legal help, while they actually are simply charging exorbitant fees for doing nothing for you? 

     In the age of the Internet, paralegal document preparers are a huge ripoff.  
If you want to file bankruptcy on your own, go to the library and borrow any of the excellent Nolo Press books on the subject.  Or contact a real bankruptcy lawyer and negotiate a deal for doing the legwork and preparing the schedules on a do-it-yourself basis and have the lawyer look them over and tell you what you've missed. 

     Giving $400 to people who do nothing but take freely available forms and fill them out for you is insane, and bankruptcy is nothing to fool around with.   Alternatively, if they do anything beyond that, they are giving you legal advice, which they are not licensed to do and which can easily blow up in your face.  Remember, when you file bankruptcy, you are also starting a lengthy period in which you cannot again file bankruptcy, no matter how dire your circumstances become.  Worse, when you screw up a bankruptcy, you can easily wind up with the worst of all worlds -- you give control of all your assets to a bankruptcy trustee but wind up left with debts that don't get discharged.  Some of the first folks to consult with me when I opened my doors were a young couple who were way underwater with debts, including student loan debts (which cannot be discharged in bankruptcy) -- the problem they had was that some clown like these document preparers had put them through bankruptcy ....  while forgetting to mention one tiny little fact to them:  they were still going to owe the student loans.


      BOTTOM LINE:  If you only have $400 to your name, spend it talking to a real lawyer about how to accomplish your legal goals in the best way for you, given your financial limitations.  $400 of real advice that a real lawyer will stand behind is a lot better value than $400 spent on "service" that can put you worse off than when you started.


     And, no, I'm not ragging on these people because they are competition.  I don't do bankruptcy work (although I have thought about adding it to my practice, just to keep clients in financial trouble from winding up in the grasp of folks like this), so I'm not hurt.  Nor do I do divorces, and they sure aren't competition for doing estate planning (as I've never had an estate planning client who didn't know that the Internet is full of cheap or free estate planning forms)
.

     Nor am I ragging on paralegals.  A good paralegal is a prized professional of great worth, but a good paralegal -- like any other professional -- is someone who is ethical and careful about not misrepresenting themselves or their services,  No good paralegal attempts to sell legal services, especially not complex issues like bankruptcy, and especially not on a flat-fee basis that makes it impossible for them to invest any serious time helping you.


UPDATE:  After posting this, a friend sends:  The other day I saw an ad from one of those places, offering to get you a "quick claim deed."  [sic - quit-claim deed]
 

Enter your Email:
Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Author

    John Gear Law Office -
    Since 2010, a values-based Oregon law practice serving Oregon consumers, elders, employees, and nonprofits.

    Categories

    All
    Advertising
    All
    Arbitration
    Autofraud
    Bankruptcy
    Borrowing
    Class Actions
    Consumer Law
    Consumer Protection
    Consumer Protection Class Actions
    Credit
    Credit Reports
    Debt
    Debt Collection
    Elder Abuse
    Elders
    Employment
    End Of Life
    Fairness
    Fdcpa
    Foreclosures
    Fundraising
    Funeral
    Games Car Dealers Play
    Garnishments
    Great Stuff
    Health Care/Insurance
    Identity Theft
    I (heart) Liz Warren
    Insurance
    Lawyer Referral Service
    Legal Resources
    Lemon Law
    Life Planning
    Long-term Care Facilities
    Media
    Military
    Military Assistance Panel
    Modifications
    Mortgages
    N.A.O.
    Nonprofits
    Oregonadminrules
    OregonLaws.org
    Plain English
    Preparing For Departure
    Privacy
    Pro Bono
    Regulation
    Resources
    Right To Repair
    Safety
    Scam
    Scams
    Strategic Planning
    Student Loans
    Tort Reform
    Training
    Used Cars
    Veterans
    Wage Garnishment
    Wage Theft
    Warnings
    Warranties
    Watchdogs
    Workplace

    Archives

    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011

    RSS Feed

Picture

LAWYERLY FINE PRINT:

John Gear Law Office LLC and Salem Consumer Law.  John Gear Law Office is in Suite 208B of the Security Building in downtown Salem at 161 High St. SE, across from the Elsinore Theater, a half-block south of Marion County Courthouse, just south of State Street. There is abundant, free 3-hour on-street parking throughout downtown Salem, and three multi-story parking ramps that offer free customer parking in downtown Salem too.

Our attorneys are only licensed to practice law in Oregon. This site may be considered advertising under Oregon State Bar rules. There is no legal advice on this site so you should not interpret anything you read here as intended for your particular situation. Besides, we are not representing you and we are not your attorneys unless you have hired us by entering into a representation agreement with me. While we do want you to consider us when you seek an attorney, you should not hire any attorney based on brochures, websites, advertising, or other promotional materials.  All original content on this site is Copyright John Gear, 2010-2022.

Photos used under Creative Commons from Tony Webster, brand0con, eirikso, Fibonacci Blue, Jirka Matousek, Rd. Vortex, rcbrazier - Brazier Creative, cogdogblog, marfis75, marcoverch, GWP Photography, byzantiumbooks, Mic V., notacrime, emrank, Family Art Studio, dotpolka, respres, Mark Cummins, a little tune, Insulinde, Bill Wards Brickpile, Roger Chang, AnthonyMendezVO, jonrawlinson, Andres Rueda, Franco Folini, inman news, Pictures by Ann, ph-stop, crabchick, Jilligan86, Elvert Barnes, p.Gordon, CarbonNYC, Digital Sextant, darkpatator, Neil T, rictic, Mr. Mystery, SeanC90, richardmasoner, www.metaphoricalplatypus.com, lindsayloveshermac, Santacreu, =Nahemoth=, ReinventedWheel, LadyDragonflyCC - On Vacation, See you all soon!, Mr. T in DC, Nisha A, markcbrennan, Celestine Chua, Furryscaly, smkybear, CarbonNYC, radioedit, Don Hankins, Henrik Hovhannisyan, CoreBurn, Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com, David Masters, SeeMidTN.com (aka Brent), SoulRider.222, amboo who?, robwest, Rob Ellis', floeschie, Key Foster, TechCocktail, That Other Paper, marcoverch, oskay, Muffet, rodaniel, Alan Cleaver, Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com, Horia Varlan, xJasonRogersx, billaday, BasicGov, One Way Stock, mikebaird, Nevado, shalf