Is LegalZoom.Com All It's Cracked Up to Be?

First I need to point out this is not a review of LegalZoom.com because I never got far enough to do a review. Here's what happened.

In late July (2010) I received a phone call from the woman who runs the assistant living home where my mom lives. She said, "Your mother has been ill and delirious the last couple of days. You need to get her to sign a power of attorney so you can oversee her health care issues."

So, I called my brother. He had already received a call from the woman, but she didn't say a word to him about a power of attorney. When I told him, he went off about LegalZoom.com. The next twenty sentences that came out of his mouth contained LegalZoom.com this and LegalZoom.com that.

Finally, after I could get a word in edgewise, I said, "Jeez, you don't have to beat me over the head with it. I get the picture. LegalZoom.com is the best place to go. Now shut up and let me go online and check it out."

I said goodbye but he could not resist one more shot. He said, "Okay, but make sure you go to LegalZoom.com." I hung up.

Yes, I went to LegalZoom.com and looked up power of attorney for health care. (This is different than a regular power of attorney.) All I found was the prices. I wanted to know more about it so I did a search on Google. The first thing I discovered was a person has to be of sound mind in order to sign one, which Mom obviously wasn't at the moment. I also learned there can be an alternate health care proxy or agent. The health care proxy or agent (normally just called agent) is the person who is given control to make health care decisions if the principal, in this case, my mother, cannot. The alternate will take over if the agent becomes unable or unwilling to make the necessary decisions.

I called my brother and told him what I discovered. He decided it was best if I were the agent and he the alternate agent if Mom agreed. So I went back to LegalZoom.com and read what needed to be done to buy the forms. Everything I read referred to, "you" (meaning the buyer). I was left wondering if I could get a power of attorney for my mother if she wasn't the buyer. It also did not give me any information about whether a person could have an alternate on their form. So I read the FAQs and still no answers. I then clicked on, "Contact."

I got to their email page and filled in my name and other important information. There was a drop down telling me if I had bought their product to click on which one. Below that was a place to click if I hadn't bought anything. I clicked there.

There was another drop down asking where the questions should be directed. None of them really matched so I clicked on the one that sounded the closest to my problem. I typed in my questions and sent the email. The information stated I would receive a response within two to three business days. So I called my brother and told him what I had done. Then I said, with confidence, "I will have the answers by Tuesday, or Wednesday at the latest. (It was Sunday afternoon.)

Tuesday came and went. So did Wednesday. And still no answer. Matter of fact, this is the first of September (2010) and I'm wondering what happened to the two to three business days. Since I hadn't heard anything from LegalZoom.com I decided to look elsewhere for the forms I need. But it begs the question, since LegalZoom.com did not respond to my questions, are they all that they're cracked up to be? If I had bought the power of attorney before I asked my questions would I have had answers by Monday night (the next day)? I don't know. I wasn't about to fork out money to ended up with, what would have been for me if I couldn't use it for Mom, a worthless form. I'm sure LegalZoom.com is a perfectly good company to do business with if you can get what you're look for. I know I was all set to go if the form would work.

My brother is no longer LegalZoom.com crazy. All he really knew about them to begin with was what he had heard on TV. Oh, yes, Mom is no longer, as the woman at the assistant living home said, way out there. She is fine now. We took her to dinner last week and we all had a very enjoyable time.

Please read my article, I Owe LegalZoom.com A Big Apology.