Legal insurance?

[seeyalater52]

My new employer offers legal insurance through ARAG for a cost of $20/month.

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We had a baby in 2020 and have been putting off doing a will and other legal documentation because of the cost.

Anyone know if a service like this is actually a cost effective way to get this sort of paperwork done? It is a LOT less expensive than what we were quoted when we interviewed attorneys locally and the services we’d need are covered by the plan.

If it helps, we don’t have a particularly complicated financial/assets situation.

[lemoncupcake]

Do you have to pay the monthly premium for any amount of time before it kicks in?

I’ve never heard of this benefit before, but maybe you could pay for it this year to get wills & such done, then drop coverage next year.

[seeyalater52]

Dec 21, 2021 9:31:18 GMT -5 lemoncupcake said:

Do you have to pay the monthly premium for any amount of time before it kicks in?

I’ve never heard of this benefit before, but maybe you could pay for it this year to get wills & such done, then drop coverage next year.

Nope, it’s effective on day one (which due to the timing of my start date will be Feb 1.) I’d definitely drop it during open enrollment next year after we’ve used it for what we need.

[lemoncupcake]

Dec 21, 2021 9:38:32 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

Dec 21, 2021 9:31:18 GMT -5 lemoncupcake said:

Do you have to pay the monthly premium for any amount of time before it kicks in?

I’ve never heard of this benefit before, but maybe you could pay for it this year to get wills & such done, then drop coverage next year.

Nope, it’s effective on day one (which due to the timing of my start date will be Feb 1.) I’d definitely drop it during open enrollment next year after we’ve used it for what we need.

Then $100 for the year seems like a deal! I think the only downside would be if the attorneys they use suck vs. someone you could interview & select on your own, but it’s probably worth the cost savings.

[seeyalater52]

Dec 21, 2021 9:42:09 GMT -5 lemoncupcake said:

Dec 21, 2021 9:38:32 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

Nope, it’s effective on day one (which due to the timing of my start date will be Feb 1.) I’d definitely drop it during open enrollment next year after we’ve used it for what we need.

Then $100 for the year seems like a deal! I think the only downside would be if the attorneys they use suck vs. someone you could interview & select on your own, but it’s probably worth the cost savings.

It’s like $230 but still a good deal compared to what we have been quoted. I assume we won’t get the best of the best attorney through this system but honestly it’s probably not a huge deal. Our situation is exceedingly simple so hopefully some baby lawyer can manage it!

[lemoncupcake]

Dec 21, 2021 9:47:28 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

Dec 21, 2021 9:42:09 GMT -5 lemoncupcake said:

Then $100 for the year seems like a deal! I think the only downside would be if the attorneys they use suck vs. someone you could interview & select on your own, but it’s probably worth the cost savings.

It’s like $230 but still a good deal compared to what we have been quoted. I assume we won’t get the best of the best attorney through this system but honestly it’s probably not a huge deal. Our situation is exceedingly simple so hopefully some baby lawyer can manage it!

Duh, math!

[jwright]

I have heard of those types of benefits, and I'll admit I've questioned the competency of the legal advice you'd be getting. However, the legal community is over saturated so if some lawyers want to take advantage of these types of mass marketing campaigns, I can't blame them. If your situation is not complex, I think I'd go for it. You could always amend or re-do it later if needs change. I'd guess it be at least $1,500 or so from a stand alone shop.

[brooke77]

I’m planning on doing this exact thing once it kicks in January 1st. We need to get our wills/trust/guardianship/poa in order. The legal insurance came highly recommended by several coworkers who used it last year.

[seeyalater52]

Thanks, all! This is super helpful!

[kellytaylor]

Lurker here - I did this same thing ~8 years ago. Our situation was not complex, we basically did it to lay out guardianship of our children. We felt like we received quality legal advice and had no issues finding a lawyer who accepted my employer's plan. I highly recommend!

[seeyalater52]

Dec 21, 2021 14:44:05 GMT -5 kellytaylor said:

Lurker here - I did this same thing ~8 years ago. Our situation was not complex, we basically did it to lay out guardianship of our children. We felt like we received quality legal advice and had no issues finding a lawyer who accepted my employer's plan. I highly recommend!

I’m impressed with their customer service too. One quick email and they hooked me up with my specific employer’s plan info and a surprisingly long list of lawyers in my area that practice this type of law. Really sealed the deal!

[HitchedIn2006]

We did wills/poa with legal insurance a few years back and was very pleased. Very simple estate so was quick to do.

[twinmomma]

This is exactly how I set up my trust, will, poa, etc. last year. I paid for the legal insurance for a year, got it all done and taken care of, and cancelled the legal insurance the next year. My HR director actually pushed all the employees to do exactly that because she knew what a huge cost savings it would be for everyone!

[puppyluv]

I pay about $120 per year for legal insurance that covers me and the H. We had our wills, trust, and health directives, all set up for under $100 in a HCOL area. Totally worth it for us.

[Mushe]

We used an employer legal service to get our wills done, and then canceled it the next year. It would have cost much more than the premiums for the service!

[raangoli]

Dec 21, 2021 20:19:18 GMT -5 Mushe said:

We used an employer legal service to get our wills done, and then canceled it the next year. It would have cost much more than the premiums for the service!

This coming from "Elle Woods" is making me chuckle  

[childofhiphop]

We got it because it covered more than estate planning. Everything from pet matters, small claims, real estate transactions, IRS audits to adoption. It covers 100% of legal fees. If there is the rare instance of something not covered on the list, the plan qualifies for reduced hourly rates and then covers 25%.

For a $10 a month premium, we said we’d get it for just in case.

[goldengirlz]

Dec 21, 2021 15:20:48 GMT -5 twinmomma said:

This is exactly how I set up my trust, will, poa, etc. last year. I paid for the legal insurance for a year, got it all done and taken care of, and cancelled the legal insurance the next year. My HR director actually pushed all the employees to do exactly that because she knew what a huge cost savings it would be for everyone!

Same here. A coworker vouched for the service and then we opted for it the next year. It saved us literally thousands of dollars in our VHCOL area.

[sent]

I found this benefit during my husband’s open enrollment and signed us up for it this year. Same reasons many mentioned, mainly to get legal stuff for the rest of the family. It seemed like there were in network vs out of network options. Just like a physician or dentist office, the whole thing reminds me of a PPO insurance plan. A Legal PPO.

[dr.girlfriend]

We've done this twice -- once to get everything done, and then again a few years later to revise everything. I think it would have been over $500 for sure to get everything done (IIRC we got wills, trust, power of attorneys, living wills done). I don't know the attorneys are the "best of the best" but it's not like I was on trial for murder, they seemed to do fine with a straightforward task. Ours was called Hyatt legal services. We were able to find people within a few miles of us, but we are also the county seat so we have a lot of law offices downtown.