Managing Your Money : Taking Law Into Your Own Hands : You can save on divorce, bankruptcy, etc., but beware. At the very least, get yourself a guidebook.
Many people can’t afford to turn to a lawyer for help with routine legal problems. Even with recession-inspired layoffs at many law firms, lawyers still don’t come cheap.
The good news is that more and more attorneys are acknowledging that you don’t need a juris doctorate to handle many routine legal matters yourself.
But be forewarned. Without a lawyer, you could become an attorney’s cocktail party story--the one about the miserable soul who struck off into the legal wilderness on his own, only to fall into a quagmire so deep that it took the whole firm to drag him out.
On the other hand, you might save thousands of dollars in legal fees if you use caution, judgment and reliable resources. Such resources can be easy to find at state agencies, bookstores, advocacy groups and even the library.
For example, will forms are widely available in stationery stores and elsewhere. “Nolo’s Simple Will Book” by Denis Clifford is a handy guide with blanks published by Nolo Press of Berkeley, (800) 992-6656.
These forms have to be retyped to be legal, so computer users might consider inexpensive will software that enables users to fill in the blanks.
You can even use a sheet of paper to make what is known as a holographic will, which is perfectly legitimate in California. Write it entirely in your own hand, date it and sign it. Include the words “This is my will,” and be as unambiguous as possible about who gets what or you’ll leave room for challenges after you die. (See related story, pages 12-13.)
You can give your loved ones the power to take you off life support if you become terminally ill by filling out a simple “living will,” which you can get free by writing to a group called Choice in Dying, 250 W. 57th St., New York, N.Y. 10107.
You can certainly buy or sell a house without a lawyer. Most Californians do, as the state Department of Real Estate acknowledges. A real estate broker can often warn you if a condition in the deal is odd enough to require legal advice.
You can also file your own bankruptcy, using forms--and even instruction kits--available at stationary stores. It also helps to consult a guidebook.
Divorce is an especially popular item for do-it-yourselfers. “Sixty percent of Californians do their own divorce,” says Ralph Warner, a lawyer by training whose talk is laced with such figures. “Twenty years ago, lawyers said that doing your own divorce was like doing brain surgery.”
Warner is co-founder of Nolo Press, a leading publisher of do-it-yourself legal materials that offers self-help in the form of books, videotapes, audiotapes and computer software that is available in bookstores and libraries.
Warner claims that high-priced lawyers sometimes recommend--and even use--his materials: “Their mother-in-law is calling them up asking them these questions, and they don’t know the answers. They’re doing corporate buyouts.”
Averse to paper work? Any number of paralegal businesses will gladly prepare and file routine legal documents for everything from divorce to bankruptcy for a fraction of what lawyers charge.
Attorney Assisted Legal Centers Inc. has six offices in Southern California and an affiliation with a network of lawyers. Attorney Assisted says it can give service while you wait with its customized computer software. For example, in about the time it takes to get your car washed, you could have divorce papers.
Do-It-Yourself L.A.W. (Legal Action Workshop) has seven Southern California offices and goes a step further. Attorneys, not just paralegals, are right on hand to help clients represent themselves. So clients get at least some legal advice with their documents, if not an attorney to hold their hand and their case file.
Attorneys are especially critical of paralegal services that are not directly supervised by attorneys. Among their allegations: Paralegals tend to give legal advice even though they are not qualified or licensed to do so, and clients don’t realize they are being led astray. Critics of the legal system, on the other hand, say lawyers are just loathe to let any business get away.
Nevertheless, the lawyers have a point, says Robert C. Fellmeth, Director of the Center for Public Interest Law at the University of San Diego: “Consumers are in danger because they don’t know what they don’t know.”
Fellmeth is pushing for legislation to set up training, testing and licensing for paralegals in narrow specialty areas that concern average people. The idea is to make sure paralegals are qualified to give legal advice in their specialty.
Meanwhile, the next best thing to having a lawyer on retainer may be having a lawyer on the telephone. Phone law is fast and cheap.
Encino attorney Robert Rentzer, for example, was wakened at 2 a.m. by a caller hoping to learn how to handle a “crisis.”
“My toilet is overflowing, and my landlord is drunk,” the caller said.
Rentzer responded with good humor and free advice, which he provides as a service, only occasionally getting a paying case. Some other telephone legal services charge by the minute.
There is clearly a demand. When Rentzer advertised his “Legal Hotline” in the Yellow Pages, he was deluged with calls. Rentzer has found that many people don’t know that they can handle many problems themselves simply by writing a properly threatening letter, calling a government agency or taking their case to Small Claims Court, where claims are allowed up to $5,000, and lawyers aren’t allowed as advocates.
Small Claims Court in Los Angeles County even has a 24-hour hot line--(213) 974-9759--for questions about conducting a case in the court. You can get advice by computer--you use the buttons on your phone in the same way you reserve movie tickets--or even from humans.
Despite the availability of low-cost self-help, even Warner of Nolo Press admits that attorneys aren’t about to go the way of eight-track tapes. In general, if your case is complex, contested or you have a lot to lose, you need a lawyer.
In selecting one, high fees and priceless grandfather clocks in the reception area are no indicators of how well the lawyer will do with your problem. Expertise in the right area of law is the real key.
Once you’ve chosen a lawyer, you can avoid running up the bill by being a careful client. Los Angeles family law attorney Lynn Soodik has this advice:
* Be organized. Don’t dump a jumbled box of documents on your attorney--he won’t sort them for free.
* Avoid calling your attorney unless you have a number of significant things to discuss. Most attorneys bill in no less than five, 10 or 15 minute increments, no matter how long you talk.
* Don’t use your attorney as a therapist. You’ll still be billed for the time and you won’t get professional therapy.
* Ask your attorney about mediation and arbitration programs, which can resolve disputes faster and cheaper.
Above all, decide in advance just what you want from your lawyer, and establish a fee schedule up front. Attorney Frank Steinschriber of Do-It-Yourself L.A.W. warns: “If all the attorney says to the client is, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll charge you fairly,’ that’s a sure sign the client will be angry at the end of the case.”
