Although there are a lot of answers on the internet, there are times when it is faster, safer, and cheaper to hire an attorney to deal with some legal problems that may arise in your life.
LegalZoom provides most services that a law firm could provide, for example, aiding an individual in forming a business, estate planning, divorce, and registering trademarks. While all these services can involve some aspects of the law, LegalZoom is not made up of attorneys. Therefore, they cannot give legal advice.
All LegalZoom can do is provide general advice, and file any of the forms available on their website on your behalf.
The biggest downfalls to LegalZoom
- Generalized information
LegalZoom was created to assist in the “typical” situations one might find themselves in. The forms, advice, and information they provide are not specified to your situation, nor do they take into account the nuances that might arise when dealing with an individual in your shoes. As mentioned above, LegalZoom can file a number of different forms on your behalf, but those forms will only be based on the information you provide. LegalZoom will not take into account your specific legal situation when filling out these forms. So, if you make a mistake by choosing to file one business entity type over another, they cannot advise you otherwise and it will be on you to deal with the consequences. An attorney, on the other hand, can directly advise you what the right, or wrong, thing to do is in your specific situation. Anything an attorney does on your behalf will be unique to your business, relationship, or legal problem.
- Overcharging
LegalZoom offers different “packages” for certain services, and depending on which package you choose, you get charged for several different things that would already be included in a service that an attorney would provide to you. For example, when filing a new LLC or corporation, you need to obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS to be able to open a business bank account. When working with an attorney, they will usually help you obtain this number as part of the process of registering your business. But on LegalZoom, they will upcharge you if you need additional help obtaining and EIN. LegalZoom will sometimes charge a fee to file something that can be filed for free, even by a non-attorney.
- Not updated on current laws
Another downfall to using LegalZoom instead of hiring an attorney is that a lot of the forms and documents that are provided by their site are not updated to fit the everchanging laws. The forms provided are very generic templates, so they are not specifically drafted to comply with new laws that could change the entire outcome of your case. For example, if laws regarding trusts and estates change, this could impact how you would need to draft a will, and having an attorney on your side could aid you in drafting a unique will to cater to your needs that is consistent with a new law.
