Free Legal Advice - Is it Really Free?

Walk into any bar, in any neighborhood, in any country on earth and you will meet people more than willing to give you free legal advice on any subject from living wills to DUI defense. The question is: Is this free legal advice something you can rely on, or is it something to avoid like the plague since bad advice can lead to legal nightmares down the road?

Surprisingly, there are people to be found in various places who can give you ideas about your legal options. Don't get me wrong, you don't want your drinking buddy, golf buddy, or next door neighbor drafting a contract for you unless you're drinking with, golfing with, or living next door to a lawyer who specialized in the area of the law you need help with. My point is that when you bounce ideas off seemingly unqualified people, it can actually help you flesh out a plan of action to take to your attorney to finalize. Remember, lawyers charge by the hour and the clearer your idea is for what you need, the fewer hours they will need to charge you. This is where that free legal advice can help you.

Say you're planning to leave your assets to your children because you want to establish a meaningful legacy for your family. It's a pretty straight-forward process to draft a will leaving all your assets to your children. The problem is that a week after the papers are signed, your legacy could be on the market and meaningless. Consult with an attorney, and you'll get a bill for a couple of hours of research on options to avoid this outcome. On the other hand, if you solicit some free legal advice from your local know-it-all, he or she might tell you how a friend's father felt the same way, so he had his assets placed in a trust that would transfer the assets to his grandchildren on the 21st birthday of the youngest. In this way, he guaranteed that the assets would benefit the family for 2 generations. This solution seems perfect for your situation, so you can now go to your attorney and tell him exactly what you need done, shaving expensive hours off your final bill.