You might not have considered certain things – A lawyer has likely experienced a variety of legal issues and may be better equipped to anticipate potential legal challenges.Failing to take these steps could prevent the document from being valid. There may be extra steps – While the document you produce online might be fine, you may have to take additional steps, such as signing in front of a notary and/or witnesses, funding your trust, or filing the document.Legal document sites may charge for these same forms. The documents may be available for free elsewhere – Many courts deal with “pro se” litigants who don’t have lawyers, so they may offer free documents to them.Your document might not be customizable – Online document management sites may not allow you to personalize their legal templates to reflect your individual needs and conditions.This means that your level of legal protection is limited to what is included in the document- so you better understand what it says. If anyone challenges your document, the court will generally only look at the document, not other conversations between you and the other party. You may not understand what you’re doing – Legal templates may contain legal jargon and boilerplate language that you might not understand.Not following the most recent version of the law can result in your document being invalid or unenforceable. For example, witnesses may now have to be not related to you by blood or marriage when that was not a requirement previously.

The documents may be outdated – Laws change every year, so you could run into a situation where you use a document or clause that is no longer appropriate due to a recent change in the law.For example, someone may want a covenant not to compete document when this type of agreement may not be upheld in the state where it would apply. The documents may not always be state-specific – Each state has its own unique set of laws, so what works in one state may not necessarily work in another state.

Concerns About Using LegalZoom vs LawyersĪs a licensed attorney, I feel the need to point out a few concerns about using legal document management software or online legal forms. You’ve probably heard of them- but consider my next point before you start using one or the other. Two of the biggest names in this industry are LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer. Depending on the service, you can potentially use cloud based legal software to:

Legal zoom pricing