MetLife Legal Plan covers more than 80 personal legal matters through a nationwide network of attorneys, including wills and trusts, home purchases and refinancing, divorce and adoption, traffic ticket defense, debt and tax disputes, identity theft, and civil lawsuits. When you use a network attorney for a covered service, the plan pays the attorney’s fees in full, with no copays, deductibles, or claim forms. What it won’t touch: anything connected to your job, your business, a rental property you own, intellectual property, appeals, class actions, DUI defense, or any matter where you hired a lawyer before you were enrolled.
What the Plan Covers
Covered services fall into several broad categories. The specifics depend on which tier your employer offers, but an enhanced plan generally includes the following.
Estate planning. Simple and complex wills, codicils, living wills, healthcare proxies, and powers of attorney for healthcare, financial, childcare, and immigration purposes. Revocable and irrevocable living trusts are also covered, though trust coverage is sometimes limited to higher-tier plans.1MetLife. MetLife Legal Plan Coverage Description Basic documents can be created through the plan’s online tools in about 15 minutes; more complex estates are routed to a network attorney.2MetLife. Estate Planning Services Trust coverage does not include tax planning or trust funding.3University of North Carolina. MetLife Legal Plans Fact Sheet
Home and real estate. Buying, selling, or refinancing a primary residence, second home, or vacation home. Deeds, mortgages, home equity loans, boundary and title disputes, property tax assessment challenges, and zoning applications are included. For renters, the plan covers eviction defense through trial, lease disputes, security deposit recovery, and negotiations with landlords, but only when you are the tenant.4Emory University. MetLife Legal Plans Fact Sheet
Family and personal. Adoption, guardianship, conservatorship, prenuptial agreements, name changes, immigration assistance, protection from domestic violence, parental responsibility matters, school hearings, demand letters, affidavits, and review of personal legal documents. Juvenile court defense for dependent children, including criminal matters, is also included.5Johns Hopkins University. MetLife Legal Plans SPD
Divorce. Contested and uncontested divorce, dissolution, and annulment, including pleadings, settlement agreements, and representation at hearings or trial. Post-decree enforcement and modification of support orders are covered. This benefit is available only to the plan member, not to a spouse.
Money matters. Debt collection defense, negotiations with creditors, personal bankruptcy (including pre-bankruptcy planning, petitions, and court representation), identity theft defense and restoration, promissory notes, tax audit representation covering IRS and state or local audits, and tax collection defense. The plan does not prepare tax returns or pursue refund claims.4Emory University. MetLife Legal Plans Fact Sheet
Civil lawsuits. Defense when you are sued in a trial court or before an administrative agency. You can also be represented as a plaintiff in consumer disputes over goods and services, provided the amount exceeds the local small claims limit and the dispute is documented in writing.6Aon. MetLife Legal Covered Services Schedule Small claims assistance includes counseling and document prep, but not attorney attendance at a small claims trial. Social Security disability representation is covered through the administrative process, including initial forms, reconsideration, hearing requests, and the hearing itself.3University of North Carolina. MetLife Legal Plans Fact Sheet
Vehicle and driving. Defense of traffic tickets for both moving and non-moving violations, including speeding, running red lights, illegal turns, reckless driving, failure to yield, seatbelt violations, and cell phone use while driving. Traffic-related misdemeanors, license suspension proceedings, driving privilege restoration, and vehicle repossession are also covered.7MetLife. Traffic Violation
Elder-care consultation. If your plan tier includes it, you can get consultation and document review for parents and parents-in-law covering Medicare, Medicaid, prescription plans, nursing home agreements, leases, deeds, wills, and powers of attorney.
For personal legal matters that are neither specifically listed nor excluded, the plan provides a set number of attorney hours per year. The allowance varies by employer and has been documented at four, eight, or ten hours.1MetLife. MetLife Legal Plan Coverage Description
What the Plan Does Not Cover
Several categories are excluded regardless of plan tier:
- Any matter connected to your job, including company or statutory benefits.
- Business, farm, or investment property matters, and any situation where you are the landlord.
- Patent, trademark, and copyright matters.
- Appeals and class actions.
- Any matter where MetLife, your employer, or the plan’s attorneys are the adverse party.
- Services for a spouse or dependent when there is a conflict of interest with the employee.
- Matters where you already retained an attorney before becoming eligible for the plan.
- Court costs, filing fees, and fines, which remain your responsibility.
- Frivolous or unethical matters.
- DUI defense and vehicular homicide.
DUI defense itself is out, but the plan does cover license suspension proceedings and driving privilege restoration that follow a DUI.1MetLife. MetLife Legal Plan Coverage Description Some services are not available in all states, and criminal defense is excluded entirely for members covered under a New York insurance policy.8MetLife. Legal Plans
How Coverage Changes by Plan Tier
Employers choose which version of the plan to offer, and the covered-service list shifts accordingly. Federal employees and retirees can enroll in a Standard plan at $14 per month covering 40 or more legal matters, or a High plan at $22 per month covering 80 or more. Moving from Standard to High adds revocable and irrevocable trusts, adoption, immigration assistance, prenuptial agreements, civil litigation defense, tax audit representation, personal bankruptcy, and pet liabilities.9MetLife. Federal Legal Plans
A private employer may structure the tiers differently. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, for example, offers a base plan at $12.30 per month, an enhanced plan at $18.30, and a Plus Parents plan at $24.30 that extends elder-care consultation to parents and parents-in-law. At that employer, trusts, prenuptial agreements, domestic violence protection, and traffic ticket defense sit in the enhanced tier rather than the base.10Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. MetLife Legal Plans – 3 Plan Options Monthly premiums typically run between roughly $12 and $26 and are paid through payroll deduction.
The practical implication: a service listed in this article is only covered for you if your employer bought the tier that includes it. Check your own plan description before assuming any specific matter is in.
In-Network vs. Out-of-Network
MetLife’s network includes more than 18,000 pre-qualified attorneys nationwide.11MetLife. Federal Legal FAQs Use one for a covered service and the plan pays the full fee directly; you fill out nothing and owe nothing beyond court costs and fines.
You can use an out-of-network attorney instead, but the plan then reimburses only a set schedule amount, and you pay the rest. The schedule amounts are modest. One employer’s fee schedule lists $70 for a basic consultation, $150 to $200 for a will, and $650 for an uncontested adoption or guardianship.12Research Foundation of Mental Hygiene. MetLife Legal Plan Fee Schedule Once you start a matter with an out-of-network attorney, you cannot switch to a network attorney for that same matter.
Who Is Covered Under the Plan
The plan covers the enrolled employee, their spouse or registered domestic partner, and dependent children up to age 26, though exact dependent definitions can vary by state and employer.13Grossmont Union High School District. MetLife Legal Summary Plan Description A Plus Parents tier, where offered, extends elder-care services to the member’s parents and parents-in-law, and sometimes grandparents. Federal employees, annuitants, and uniformed service members eligible for FEDVIP or CHAMPVA can also enroll.11MetLife. Federal Legal FAQs
MetLife Legal Plans are sold only through employer-sponsored benefits. You cannot buy the plan as an individual. Enrollment usually carries a 12-month commitment with automatic renewal, and coverage begins on the first of the month after you enroll.
How To Confirm Your Own Coverage
Because tiers, allowances, and state-specific carve-outs vary, the only reliable source for what you personally have is your employer’s summary plan description or the member portal at members.legalplans.com. If a matter is close to the line, ask the Client Service Center at 800-821-6400 whether it is covered before you contact an attorney, since starting a matter outside the network closes the door on in-network payment for that same issue.