Legally Easy is a free source of legal help, news and information from Charley Moore and the legal team at RocketLawyer.com. Rocket Lawyer is the easiest way to make a legal document, find a lawyer and get free legal advice for yourself and your business.
New Law Alert: HOPE for Homeowners - Housing and Foreclosure Relief Bill Becomes Law
If you are one of the many homeowners looking for help, the new housing relief bill may provide mortgage relief that can help you avoid foreclosure. So, how do you apply for help under the new HOPE for Homeowners housing and foreclosure assistance law?
The housing relief bill almost certainly is the most robust housing legislation in decades, enabling homeowners who need help with their mortgage payments to refinance into more affordable loans, backed by the government. By taking advantage of this relief, many homeowners should be able to keep their homes.
According to Courant.com, "The program could help as many as 400,000 homeowners acrossthe country facing foreclosure. HOPE for Homeowners is voluntary, however, and both lender and borrower must agree to participate."
The HOPE for Homeowners program begins October 1 and the rules and procedures for implementing the bill are being written now. It will be administered by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).
RocketLawyer.com will keep you informed as details of the foreclosure relief bill become clear.
Lexis-Nexis teams with RocketLawyer.com for easy online legal services!
Lawyers.comsm adds “do it yourself” options for common legal issues
Addition is one element of the new, interactive Lawyers.com legal community site
New York, NY – July 23, 2008 – LexisNexis announced today that Lawyers.comsm, the leading online resource for consumers and small business professionals to find an attorney and legal information, has added access to a comprehensive legal document service that combines “do it yourself” legal forms with online legal document review by real lawyers.
The additions come as part of a larger transformation of Lawyers.com by LexisNexis® Martindale-Hubbell® that includes implementation of a variety of new interactive features.
One of the key new capabilities is the Legal Document Services provided by RocketLawyer.com™. This set of services now enable users of Lawyers.com to save time by creating legal documents themselves, as well as accessing fast, affordable legal help online right when needed from Lawyers.com member attorneys.
“Today, more consumers and small business professionals use the web to research legal issues before contacting a lawyer, and with the right tools and services they can often handle simple legal matters on their own,” said Sharon Lubrano, vice-president of Client Development at LexisNexis. “The addition of services from RocketLawyer.com offers Lawyers.com visitors user-friendly online resources so they can act faster and more efficiently on common legal matters. And, they can find and connect with one of more than a million lawyers represented at Lawyers.com via the same, easy to use interface.”
“We’re gratified to provide Lawyers.com users with easy and affordable online legal document services,” added Charley Moore, Founder of RocketLawyer.com. He continued. “Combining our easy online legal documents and our patent-pending “Click-through Legal Review” by real attorneys, with Lawyers.com, now gives Web users everything they need to take control of their legal matters.”
More than just a legal forms site, RocketLawyer.com makes it easy to complete many personal and business legal matters at Lawyers.com. For example, individuals can use the service to set up a last will and testament, create a living will, produce a bill of sale, designate power of attorney and much more. Business can use the service to manage processes such as setting up non-disclosure forms, creating service contracts and employee agreements, producing real estate leases, creating licensing agreements and more.
All of this is accomplished via a powerful set of integrated services, including:
Interactive Legal Forms and Interviews. Users answer a few simple questions and create complete legal documents in minutes. These documents are ready immediately and available anywhere with Web access.
Document Collaboration and Sharing. Users can share documents and collaborate with family, legal counsel and other parties.
Click-Through Legal Review™. Users can access a network of attorneys who can review legal documents online for professional help.
Safe, Secure Online Document Vault. Users get peace of mind by backing up their important papers with FileSafekeeper™.
E-Signatures. Users save time and paper by signing legal documents electronically via a computer, cell phone or PDA.
In addition to new capabilities from RocketLawyer.com, Lawyers.com has expanded its vast database of practice area articles and information for consumers and small business professionals to include:
Life Changing Events – Helpful information on legal issues that arise in most peoples’ lives, such as divorce, starting a business, creating a will and more.
Community and Interactive Features – Interact with lawyers through community message boards, “Ask A Lawyer,” scheduled online sessions to discuss specific legal issues, and more.
Videos - Clips from experts on common legal issues
Blogs – Attorney insights on current key legal issues and trends
On the Docket – Read questions other consumers and small businesses are asking and benefit from the answers
“All of these new elements are great examples of the ongoing transformation of Lawyers.com from a large and useful online directory into an interactive online community where individuals and small businesses can find, discuss, learn and take action on legal issues that matter to them,” said Lubrano.
For more information, contact:
Yolanse Lau Marketing Manager RocketLawyer.com marketingmgr@rocketlawyer.com 415.738.6337
Personal and business credit, including rising bankruptcy filings are in the news almost daily. If you are looking for ways to understand your credit and possible legal solutions, like bankruptcy, RocketLawyer.com can be a good place to start. This article describes a few of the personal and business credit and bankruptcy resources you can find from Rocket Lawyer.
Denials of Credit and Credit Repair Help
There are several legal documents to help you if you have been denied credit. They include the following: Challenge to Denial of Credit Form, Request a Positive Report Form and the Credit Report Request Form. Also, in partnership with TrueCredit by TransUnion, every Rocket Lawyer Member can access their credit report by establishing a TrueCredit account directly linked from their Rocket Lawyer MyAccount page. TrueCredit can help you monitor your credit and provides lots of helpful tips about how to improve your credit rating with all three credit information agencies.
Bankruptcy Legal Help
The RocketLawyer.com Bankruptcy Worksheet is a good place to start for anyone considering the legal issues surrounding personal or business bankruptcy. The Bankruptcy Worksheet will help you organize and understand your personal financial situation and gather the information that you should have available for your attorney for a pre-bankruptcy consultation. The Bankruptcy Worksheet can also provide the basic information about how to file for bankruptcy, step by step.
Find a Lawyer to help with Credit and Bankruptcy Matters
The free Rocket Lawyer legal directory contains profiles of attorneys in every state who can assist with a variety of legal matters, including credit and bankruptcy legal information and filings. Click here to find a lawyer in your state.
New Law Alert: California Supreme Court Approves Same-Sex Marriage
In a 4-3 ruling, the California State Supreme Court has made California the second state (following Massachusets) to rule that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry.
What does this ruling change for gays and lesbians?
Married couples have several rights and protections that are not recognized for most domestic partner-type arrangements. For example, as reported in the San Francisco Chronicle, domestic partners can be denied certain benefits of marriage under federal law, such as filing joint federal tax returns, social security survivor's benefits and immigration sponsorship rights.
Prenuptial Agreement arrangements and Estate Planning are major considerations for any married couple and these issues will now be the substantially the same for homosexual couples as for heterosexual married people.
RocketLawyer.com recommends that all persons considering marriage think about a Prenuptial Agreement, which will help avoid economic problems in the event of a divorce. Once married, couples should ensure that they have at least three basic legal documents for themselves and their spouse: a Living Will, a Durable Power of Attorney and a Last Will and Testament.
If you are unsure about the legal documents you need, the RocketLawyer.com Free Legal Care Check-Up is always a good place to start.
For more information about the California Supreme Court same-sex marriage ruling, here is Attorney Gloria Allred.
One of the best kept secrets in a world of televised celebrity lawyers in expensive suits is that there are thousands of affordable real lawyers here to help you with your legal questions and issues.While celebrity attorneys may offer general information on TV and on the radio, real people have real questions that are specific to their lives and business matters that don’t fit into neatly canned answers.Real people also have personal and business legal documents that they need a real lawyer to review, revise and complete at a reasonable price.
Until now, these real people with their real legal documents would need to find a lawyer, go to the lawyer’s office (an office that costs money that results in higher legal bills for the client), pay for copies, mail, fax and other expenses, and then wait for the legal document, such as a legal will, a power of attorney, a lease or a business contract, to be finished, often after several weeks.Alternatively, a real person might try a web site that offers do it yourself legal forms.Most of these sites seem to offer nothing more than a downloadable PDF or word processor document, with little legal help and legal information.Other sites might have fill-in worksheets for legal documents and then require the person to wait for the document to be completed offline and mailed to them later.In either scenario, the real person is often left back where they started – needing affordable legal help and not being able to find it.
But wait – there is finally a better way, a way to have the best of both worlds – do it yourself legal documents, plus legal help and legal document review by real lawyers online!RocketLawyer.com offers both easy to use interactive free legal documents that real people can complete as well as click-through legal review by real lawyers.Now, a real person can fill in as much or as little of their legal documents as they feel comfortable with and then find a lawyer to help them online – without the need to visit a lawyer’s office or wait for the mail to complete the legal document.
If you are a lawyer, and you would like to join the growing RocketLawyer.com virtual law office network to begin offering your services online, just start here – and, best of all, it’s completely free for join the network and get a free professional profile here!
Doing your taxes yourself has never been easier. Here are some tax time tips to help you get the most out of the many free and low cost tax return filing resources available online. Filing your taxes yourself can be really simple or more involved, depending on the amount of information you want to consider.
Where to start?
RocketLawyer.com offers discounted H&R Block® tax return services online. Every Rocket Lawyer member saves up to 30 percent off the cost of their online tax return. Since everyone needs tax services, this is a great way to get the most out of your Rocket Lawyer membership. If you are already a Rocket Lawyer member, login to access your discounted tax filing services. If you don’t have a membership yet, now is the time to become a Rocket Lawyer member and save even more. Go to: http://www.rocketlawyer.com/.
RocketTax.com makes it simple to complete and file your tax return in a few clicks online. You can trust the tax services from Rocket Tax because it's in partnership with H&R Block, the leader in tax help. Go to: http://www.rockettax.com/.
IRS.gov includes every U.S. Tax form, such as the U.S. Tax 1050 form, the 1050 EZ form, tax Schedule C and all of the other official tax forms, schedules, tax worksheets and tax instructions.
Whether you decide to do your tax filing homework or to just let the easy interactive tax return interviews at RocketTax.com do it for you, filing your taxes yourself should take less time and money than ever.
Do most people shop at stores that look unsafe? Of course not. The same common sense caution should apply to online shopping. To help our members shop safely online, the Rocket Lawyer team has compiled some of our favorite safe shopping advice into an easy to remember acronym: I.N.S.P.E.C.T. Remember what each letter stands for to keep your online shopping experience safe and secure.
Identify the site. Look at the web address (the URL) in your browser and confirm that it matches the top level name of the site you want. So, if you are shopping at Amazon.com, make sure the part of the address before ".com" is "amazon." For example, a site with the address www.amazon.sneakysite.com might be a cleverly disguised imposter site. Be especially careful with sites you visit after clicking a link in an email message (which generally should be avoided, unless you expected the messages or trust the sender). Look for certificates from trusted organizations, like GeoTrust and the Better Business Bureau that enable you to double check the authenticity of the site. Lastly, install good security software that will warn you of potentially dangerous sites. A good safe browsing tool is the Authentic-ID™ toolbar that is provided free of charge from RocketLawyer.com.
Never give financial information without a secure connection. If you are going to buy something with your credit card or otherwise provide your name, address, or bank information, make sure to check the URL for https:// (note the "s" for "secure" after http). It is also a good idea, again, to look for the GeoTrust, Verisign, or other third party security badges on the site. Make sure that these security badges are active – if you click on them, they should direct you to further information from the issuer verifying your security on the site.
See the privacy policy. If you don't see a privacy policy, or if it doesn't contain a promise from the site not to use your personal information for any purpose other than with your permission or as required by law, think about not doing business with the site.
Print your receipt, including a description of your merchandise, the terms of service, warranty and any other information you see that you'd like to have in case of a dispute. For large purchases between individuals, consider creating a simple Bill of Sale.
Email addresses should only be given to trusted sites with published and customary privacy policies.
Check the pricing, refund and return policy. Look for a 100% satisfaction guarantee.
Track shipping and delivery locations. Choose only secure delivery points for your merchandise. For example, if the items may be left on your doorstep when nobody is home to accept, consider delivery to your place of business. Common carriers like Federal Express, UPS, DHL and the Postal Service all have web sites where you can track and follow up on shipments with the tracking codes that you can obtain from most reputable e-commerce sites.
Following the guidelines in this article can't guarantee you a perfect online shopping experience; if you have problems with a site, you can create a Complaint Letter. Otherwise, the simple rules in the I.N.S.P.E.C.T safe shopping program should reduce your risk of trouble and help ensure that you and those who you may be shopping for online get to enjoy what you've purchased.
Do you have a list of the essential legal documents for this stage of your life? If the answer is yes – congratulations! You're ahead of the curve...so long as you have executed and properly filed your legal documents.
However, if the answer is no, you're not alone. Most adults don't have an Estate Plan. Similarly, most entrepreneurs, home-based business owners and other small business owners either haven't filed Articles of Incorporation (or LLC documents) for their business or don't keep regular Corporate Minutes. Missing personal and business legal documents increases the risks that your family and business can face in unforseen circumstances.
Want more free information and help? Now, you can easily and quickly complete your personal legal care check up and get the customized information you need in minutes. Just go to RocketLawyer.com and click FREE Legal Care Check-Up "Start Now" .
E-Signatures are secure and save time and money (and trees :-).
By now, many of us have clicked through online legal contracts. We may have also “signed” our initials to online legal documents from our bank or insurance company. In fact, big companies like Microsoft, Cisco, USAA and Schwab have been using E-Sign tools for millions of legal forms for several years. But, most individuals and small business managers currently do not use electronic signatures as part of their daily routine. That’s probably because, until now, using electronic signatures has been hard to figure out and make work, given all the other hectic demands on everyone’s time.
Well, now everyone can save some trees, kill the fax machine and start going paperless by electronically signing most legal documents as easily as using email. RocketLawyer.com now offers a simple E-Signature tool called “RocketSign.” It takes only minutes and unlimited use is free for members, so anyone should have no problem getting the hang of E-signing legal documents online in record time.
Are E-Signatures legal?
The answer is yes, and there are federal guidelines that legal document services can follow, especially since President Clinton signed into law the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (the “E-Signature Act”), which became effective in the US on October 1, 2000. Ever since, online E-Signatures have gained growing acceptance because, according to experts, the E-Signature Act renders online electronic signatures on most contracts as legally equivalent to written signatures. For more information, see Electronic Signatures In Global And National Commerce Act.
RocketSign™ E-Signatures
You can now electronically sign hundreds of business and personal legal documents, from non-disclosure agreements to employment, sales, consulting, and licensing contracts to pre-nuptial agreements and real estate leases. You can also upload and sign any other personal or business contract, regardless of where the document was created, so long as you have a PDF or word processor compatible version on your computer and an Internet connection!
How does the RocketSign™ E-Signature process work? Easy! Just go to your RocketLawyer.com Account Manager (if you don’t have one yet, you can create one for free here). From there you can E-Sign any eligible legal document, either created with one of the easy Rocket Lawyer interviews, or a new legal document that you upload into the system from your computer. Follow a few simple instructions and – zap – your legal document is sent via email for E-Signature by the other party to your agreement. It takes only minutes for the other party to then electronically sign and it is automatically sent back to you to be a final, legal contract! You are updated every step of the way, according to your preferences. Your final legal document is then kept safe and secure online and you can also download it for local safekeeping.
That’s it – no more paper, and lot’s more time and trees:-)
Use a Non-disclosure Agreement to Protect Your Intellectual Property
Do you have an idea for a new product or service?Need to discuss it with potential customers, investors or perhaps even competitors?If so, think about protecting your idea with a simple confidentiality agreement (also known as a “Non-disclosure Agreement, or “NDA” for short).
A Nondisclosure Agreement is contract under which the person (or organization) receiving information from anther person (or organization) agrees not to disclose proprietary and confidential information that it receives in this context. This type of agreement may be useful in a variety of circumstances. For example, a company might choose to share information with a sales consultant for the purpose improving its sales performance. In such a situation, the company would probably be sharing product and customer information with the consultant and would want to protect this information from disclosure by the consultant to third parties.
Some typical provisions that are included for the protection of the Owner include the following:
No Warranty. There is a possibility that the Confidential Information could contain mistakes or errors, or be based on assumptions that later prove to be incorrect. Therefore, it is common for Owners to include a "no warranty" provision that specifies that the Owner will not be responsible for any damages that the Recipient might incur from using the Confidential Information.
Risk of Disclosure. In addition to the "No Warranty" provision, the Owner may also want to provide that any disclosure made by the Recipient of any information is at the Recipient's risk. Because the Owner has already stated that it will not warrant the accuracy of the information, the Owner can further provide that the Recipient will bear the risk of using the information in violation of the agreement. For example, if the Recipient acts on some of the information and the information was inaccurate, the Recipient cannot hold the Owner responsible for the harm caused by the inaccurate information.
Limited License. Generally, the Owner and the Recipient intend that the Confidential Information will only be used by the Recipient for the limited purpose of reviewing the information and becoming familiar with the Owner's business to determine whether the parties might have interest in future transactions (based on some additional agreement). A "limited license" provision makes it clear that the Recipient is not acquiring the right to use the Confidential Information on a general basis.
General Provisions. A Nondisclosure Agreement should include provisions that (i) require amendments (changes) to the agreement to be in writing and signed by both parties, (ii) specify the state whose laws will govern and interpret disputes between the parties regarding the matters covered by the agreement, and (iii) prohibit the parties from assigning their obligations under the agreement to third parties. Generally, the state whose laws should govern the agreement should be the state of the Owner or the Recipient.
Our featured Bankruptcy Lawyer for this issue is 
