$350 to Save your Family $30,000
Legal Insurance Makes It Even Easier to Serve Your Loved Ones When It Matters Most.
Legal insurance might sound like it’s a benefit designed for jewel thieves, but actually it’s perfect for anybody who has kids, property or a physical body. That’s why so many of the biggest employers in California provide it to their teams.
In a nutshell, legal insurance covers legal fees for certain services. And this can pay for you to hire a firm (*cough* like Summerall Law) to help you create the documents that help families in life’s toughest moments.
These documents give you peace of mind that if something happens to you, if you’re ill, incapacitated, or if you pass away—your kindness and love continues through clear guidance about how you want the situation handled. They can also save your family a lot of money. If you don’t have a trust, the average California family pays $30,000 going through probate (probate is the court process required to give your assets to your family if you don’t have a trust). With insurance, getting a trust usually only costs $350.
Together, these documents are called an Estate Plan. (You can read all about it here.) At Summerall Law, we make this process easy. And with legal insurance, it somehow gets even easier.
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A good attorney sets expectations. So let’s spend a second getting on the same page.
Timing
Sometimes it only takes a day. Usually, the process runs about 2-3 weeks; time for you to do two 60-minute video meetings with an attorney and a 15-minute signing appointment.
Costs
Typically, insurance covers all our attorney fees, so the remaining costs relate to things like notaries and property transfer filing. Usually, these come in around $350 per family.
We wouldn’t be lawyers if we didn’t like to get specific. So here’s a deeper breakdown.
We disclose and agree on all fees before we do any work.
You can always start with a complimentary consultation.
With almost all insurance plans all attorney fees are paid by the insurance company, your only cost would be the notary fee of $75 per person and the property transfer fee of $200 per piece of real property. For most couples with one piece of property, the total out-of-pocket fee is $350.
If your legal insurance plan is something called “will only,” you will also pay the fee to add a trust which is $1,250 for a couple and $950 for an individual.
We deal with the insurance companies
Once you give us the details about your coverage we do the rest.
We bill the insurance company and handle their questions.
If the insurance company doesn’t want to pay, we sort it out with them.
You will not be billed for the estate plan if there is a problem with insurance.
Here’s How You Get Started (Spoiler: It’s Simple)
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Figure out which insurance company is used for your legal insurance benefit.
You might know this already, have the paperwork handy, or be a wiz at your benefits portal/ sending questions to HR. But we’re all about making things easy. So here’s a handy chart to help you find the answer.
Where do you work?
There’s a good chance you have coverage through LegalEase/LegalGuard/LegalAccess (AKA Nationwide)
Facebook, Twitter, Kaiser, Sutter Health, Chevron, Charles Schwab, Morgan Stanley, Genentech/Roche, Gartner, Inc., Varian Medical Systems, Nestle, Lawrence Livermore Labs, or Lawrence Livermore National Security
There’s a good chance you have coverage through MetLaw/Hyatt
University of California, Oracle, Tesla, Wells Fargo, First Republic Bank, State of California, Federal Reserve System, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.
There’s a good chance you have coverage through ARAG
Anywhere else
Double check your benefits.
You may still have coverage through ARAG, MetLaw/Hyatt or LegalEase/LegalGuard/LegalAccess (AKA Nationwide).
You may have coverage through CLC or Workplace Options. We don’t participate in those programs, but we will give you 10% off our regular prices if you want to work with us
You can sign up as an individual for coverage through LegalEase/LegalGuard/LegalAccess (AKA Nationwide) or through ARAG
Want to double check anything?
If you need to confirm which insurance you have or have other questions for the insurance company, here are the numbers.
ARAG:
1-800-819-6010
MetLaw/Hyatt:
or call them at 800-821-6400.
LegalEase/LegalGuard/LegalAccess (sometimes called Nationwide):
1-800-562-2929
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Schedule a complimentary initial consultation.
Were you expecting more steps to this process? We told you it’d be easy. We can do meetings online or in person. We will confirm your insurance in advance by email. (If your coverage is through Legal Access, you have to reach out to them and request your case number, and then we can take it from there.)
A Bit About Summerall Law, Estate Planning Experts
Estate planning is what we do. It’s our specialty and our passion. (Don’t judge.)
We are estate planning experts. Sarah has ten years of experience in this field and has passed the probate specialist exam. All of the attorneys work primarily on estate planning and, attend annual trainings on laws relevant to estate planning. The team leader has more than 15 years of experience as an attorney and has worked at some of the nation’s best law firms.
We make estate planning easy.
Through experience and technology, we make this a smooth process for you. Online scheduling, regular deed recording services, multiple notaries on staff, and a host of processes below the surface—our firm is built to keep things tangle-free and help avoid problems for you and your family down the line.
We work with the insurance companies.
Yes, we said this already. But it’s worth stressing that we have trained professionals who will sit on hold for you, fill out forms in triplicate for you, talk to the manager again for you—handle all the hassle for you while you spend your time doing literally anything else. We cannot promise that other firms will provide this service.
