Legal services benefits are prepaid plans that give you access to attorneys for personal legal matters — wills, home closings, divorce, traffic tickets, identity theft — for a flat monthly premium, usually $15 to $30. Most people get them through an employer alongside health and dental coverage, though unions, membership groups, and direct-to-consumer providers offer them too. With private attorneys averaging around $350 per hour, a plan can pay for itself after a single consultation.
How the Plans Work
Most legal services plans run on an attorney network. You pick a lawyer from a pre-screened panel, and the plan pays that attorney directly for covered services. No copays, no deductibles, no claim forms when you stay in network.1Cardinal at Work. Metlife Pre-Paid Legal Services The experience is similar to seeing an in-network doctor.
Some plans also let you use your own attorney out of network. You pay the lawyer upfront and submit for reimbursement against a fixed fee schedule. That schedule is often well below what attorneys actually charge, and you’re on the hook for the difference.2Syracuse University Human Resources. Out-of-Network Reimbursement Flyer
A less common setup is the direct-service plan, where the plan itself employs staff attorneys who handle your matters. These tend to come through unions or large organizations rather than commercial insurers.
What’s Typically Covered
Coverage focuses on the legal matters that come up in ordinary life:
- Estate planning: wills, living wills, trusts, powers of attorney.
- Real estate: buying, selling, or refinancing a home; landlord-tenant disputes; lease reviews.
- Family law: divorce, adoption, custody, guardianship, and marriage-related matters.
- Identity theft: restoring your identity and resolving fraudulent accounts.
- Debt and financial issues: defense against collections and help with personal bankruptcy.
- Traffic and motor vehicle issues: tickets and moving violations.
- Immigration assistance: applications, petitions, and related proceedings.
- Document review: contracts, loan agreements, insurance policies.
Most plans include unlimited phone consultations and will have an attorney draft demand letters or make calls on your behalf as part of covered services.3University of Chicago Human Resources. MetLife Legal Plans Overview The scope is broad enough that many enrollees use it for things they wouldn’t otherwise have called a lawyer about.
What’s Usually Not Covered
Exclusions are where people get caught off guard. Most plans won’t cover:
- Business and employment disputes: legal matters tied to a business you own, or disputes with your employer.
- Pre-existing legal matters: if the issue was pending before you enrolled, it’s almost certainly excluded. Plans are designed for new matters arising during coverage.
- Personal injury claims: plaintiff-side injury litigation is typically off the table, though personal injury attorneys usually work on contingency anyway.
- Class actions: joining or initiating them.
- Certain criminal matters: some plans exclude DUI defense or charges involving deliberate criminal acts.
The exact exclusion list varies by plan and by tier. If a specific legal concern is what’s prompting you to enroll, read the plan’s schedule of covered services and confirm it’s included before signing up.
What These Plans Cost
Pricing depends on the provider and whether your employer picks up any of the premium. Employer-sponsored plans from MetLife run about $14 per month for a standard plan and $22 per month for a premium tier. Individual plans from LegalShield start around $30 per month and reach $60 per month at the top tier. LegalZoom offers plans at roughly $17 to $20 per month when paid annually.
For employer-sponsored plans, premiums typically come out of your paycheck in after-tax dollars, so you don’t get the pre-tax break you’d see on health insurance.1Cardinal at Work. Metlife Pre-Paid Legal Services If your employer pays the full cost as a company benefit, the value is generally treated as taxable income on your W-2.
Whether a plan pays off depends on how likely you are to use it. A single will drafting with a private attorney can run more than a year of premiums. Go several years without needing a lawyer and you’ve spent the money for nothing concrete.
Costs the Plan Still Leaves to You
Even on fully covered matters, non-attorney expenses stay your responsibility.1Cardinal at Work. Metlife Pre-Paid Legal Services That includes:
- Court filing fees, which typically run a few hundred dollars for a civil case.
- Recording and notary fees on real estate transactions.
- Expert witness fees if your case needs specialist testimony.
- Process server costs for delivering legal documents to another party.
These costs are modest compared with paying an attorney out of pocket, but they can add up on more complex matters. Your attorney should walk you through expected out-of-pocket costs during the initial consultation.
ERISA Protections if You Get the Plan Through Work
An employer-provided legal services plan is classified as an employee welfare benefit plan under ERISA.4U.S. Department of Labor. Employment Law Guide – Employee Benefit Plans That brings protections you don’t get on individually purchased plans. Your employer has to give you a summary plan description laying out covered services, exclusions, and how to file claims. If the plan denies coverage for a legal matter, you have a formal right to appeal. Plans you buy on your own don’t carry those federal protections.
Using the Benefit
Confirm your enrollment through HR or the plan administrator before you need it. If you signed up during open enrollment months ago and haven’t used the plan, verify coverage is active.
When something comes up, contact the plan by phone or through its online portal to request an attorney referral. Most plans let you search by practice area and location. Pull together any documents tied to the issue before your first call: contracts, court notices, correspondence, account statements. The more prepared you are, the less covered consultation time you spend bringing the attorney up to speed.
At the initial consultation, the attorney will assess the situation, explain your options, and tell you which services the plan covers for your matter.5MetLife. How To Prepare for a Lawyer Consultation If anything falls outside coverage, the attorney should tell you upfront what it would cost. From there you work directly with the lawyer; the plan handles payment for covered services, but the attorney-client relationship is between the two of you.