Articles Posted in Group Legal Services

We are coming to the end of the year and organizations are thinking of any new benefits. Employees still recovering from COVID-19 quarantines will appreciate any extra help from their employers. Group legal plans might not appear to be useful, but we disagree. These benefits are an excellent form of assistance for hard-working employees.

A World Wrapped in Paper

We cannot escape the fact that paper dominates our world. Legal documents determine who gets government services and whose estate is protected. Medical procedures are intended to prolong life even if a person objects to the process. There are other pieces of legal parchment that will have a significant influence if they do not control our lives completely. Continue reading

We are all going to die and that is a fact of life. A person may think that his or her estate is not significant enough to have a will, but no estate is so small that no one will argue or contest it. Estates bring out the worst in many families and dying without a will can create a feud that lasts for generations.

Your Wishes Should Be Respected

Simple wills are a pre-paid legal services benefit that many group legal plans promote. The document allows you to designate who receives what from your estate. That is especially important. You may have family members who are estranged from you and you do not want them to reap the benefit of your passing. Unfortunately, if you die without a will, the same relatives can contest any estate distribution and lay claim to part of it. Continue reading

The marketing strategies of most group legal plans are to promote the primary benefits. Services such as drafting a will or assisting with consumer protection are good things to point out, but there is more to providing excellent pre-paid legal services.

It is often the secondary benefits, the ones that are always a part of the plan regardless of the options that make the real difference. Communication is critical these days.

This is more than just talking to a plan member. Communication must be instrumental in achieving the goals of the benefit plan. Countrywide Pre-Paid Legal Services pays a great deal of attention to our benefit plans’ quality of communications support activity. Continue reading

Election time is usually crazy, and it is not easy to get help from public agencies. Public employees are often preoccupied with all the campaign noise. The problem typically lasts for a few weeks, but the real difficulties appear after January 1. That is when new laws and regulations often take effect.

Changes can be confusing. New deadlines and procedures will take some time to get used to, and government agencies might be slow to respond to service requests. Anyone who needs help can get very annoyed with the delays. Remote workers who were already trying to cope with work changes might experience more significant stress. Group legal plans ought to have services that will help, but not all do. That is not the case with us.

Countrywide Pre-Paid Legal Services helps with government agencies. We cut through the red tape to allow our group legal plan members to get what they need from the bureaucrats. Continue reading

End of life financial planning is centered on maintaining a person’s estate. Financial products such as burial insurance is intended to protect the estate from funeral expenses and living wills can prevent deductibles from draining away financial assets. The essential part of any end-of-life financial planning is a simple will. It is the best way to keep the probate court from dominating the final distribution.

The Danger of No Will

A person who dies intestate has left this world without leaving behind a will to give instructions on how to distribute the estate. It results in a nightmare that involves probate court to the hilt. The lack of a will means there is no executor, and the court will appoint an administrator of the estate. That unlucky person is answerable to the court and must get court approval for even the smallest actions. It results in the final estate distribution being delayed for months. Continue reading

People are sometimes shy about drawing up a will. It is a document that causes a person to admit that there will be a day when life is over. It may come as a surprise, but a will is also something to consider when making financial plans. You can think of it as end-of-life financial planning, and the document gives instructions on what is to be done with you and your estate. Group legal plans will offer simple wills but, another type, just as important, is the living will.

Preparing for a Possible Future

Death does not always come as a heart attack. There are situations where a person can be in a vegetative state for weeks, if not months, before finally dying. Some decisions must be made when a person is in a coma and cannot communicate them. Healthcare providers are committed to preserving the patient’s life, and that can mean placing someone on life support, even if the person does not want that.

Knowing the Law

Consumer warranty rights are defined under the Magnuson-Moss Act. Automobile warranties need to include specific coverage information and the seller must allow the consumer to read the warranty before buying it.

The warranty does not mean that a consumer is bound to have all their automotive maintenance work done at a dealership. Another establishment can do routine maintenance such as oil changes, replacing pads on the brakes, and working on the distributor. The warranty must show how long the warranty is in effect (ordinarily three years) and over how many miles (36,000 miles is the standard mileage limit). Aftermarket parts (AFP) are different from those of the original equipment manufacturer (OEM). Using the former does not necessarily mean the warranty is void. Continue reading