Get to Know ARAG Legal Care

ARAG Legal Insurance is an insurance plan that can help you cover the costs of certain legal services. ARAG provides comprehensive insurance coverage for many different types of personal legal needs. This insurance provides a network of attorneys, and policies are flexible enough so that you can design the contract that locks in the rate you will pay for the life of the policy. The attorneys who you can retain under your insurance policy are vetted to ensure that they are uniquely qualified to handle your legal matter. And the insured individuals can feel secure in the ARAG insurance cause they know their legal bill will be covered for the duration of their policy .
Policies have an affordable monthly flat fee that enables consumers budget for legal services over the long-term. By locking in a set rate, you can feel relieved should your financial circumstances change dramatically. Furthermore, ARAG exists to provide peace of mind to clients who need legal assistance for common legal matters. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that more than half of all Americans are facing some type of legal situation during the course of a given year. Often the legal needs are unexpected and can be financially overwhelming. Insurance such as ARAG is important as it helps protect you from financial devastation and secure your future.

Personal Legal Cover

ARAG provides coverage for a range of personal legal matters. Family law is often the most cited area of ARAG coverage, and in fact, over half (nearly 60%) of all personal legal inquiries fall into the family law category. Family law issues can include adoption, divorce, legal separation, guardianship, child support, spousal support, palimony, child custody, and visitation. ARAG covers representation for all of these family law issues (and more), as well as many other matters such as adoptions, name changes, juvenile matters, and paternity actions. Whether your employees have custody disputes or standalone adoption needs, ARAG provides access to qualified attorneys with the experience necessary to help with these family law matters.
Often also included within the covered family law issues are estate planning and probate matters. ARAG covers attorney fees related to will preparation, living trusts, addition of a personal representative to a will, probate action to determine the validity of a will, a will contest, discovery of assets, inventory of an estate, and accounting of an estate. Wills often have many unintended consequences that can (and do) affect the family, including guardianship matters, property transfers, and the creation of trusts. The use of a qualified ARAG attorney to assist with the planning and execution of a will can often prevent family disputes from arising.
As discussed earlier, homeowners often overlook legal issues relating to a purchase or sale of their home. They must also be careful to avoid any legal pitfalls when renting their home or renting rental property. ARAG provides coverage for the cost of an attorney to review legal documents such as leases, rental agreements, purchase and sale agreements, and mortgage loan contracts. New home purchases may include issues related to deed restrictions, zoning ordinances, and easement agreements. All of these potential disputes can be avoided or resolved with the assistance of a qualified ARAG attorney.

Legal Protection At Work

The employment attorneys represented by GEBA have decades of practice helping people get the best results from work-related legal matters. While most employment matters arise out of the workplace, some related issues may travel outside the company walls and require legal guidance as to the underlying legal and factual issues. Our experienced attorneys are particularly well-suited to deal with all kinds of work-related matters, whether they occur on or off the employer’s premises.
The types of work-related legal protections which ARAG may cover are:
Wrongful Termination or Discriminatory Treatment
If your employer terminates your employment based on an unlawful basis, you can seek legal guidance. The law protects employees from termination as a result of race, age, sex, disability, and a host of other unlawful motivations. If your employment is terminated for a protected reason, you will need the best legal guidance you can find to fight for your rights. In addition, workers are protected from discrimination in the terms and conditions of the workplace. If your likelihood for promotion or fair pay has been limited because of your protected status, such as your race, gender, age, religion, or national origin, you should seek legal advice. Your best opportunity to correct what may be a long term pattern of discrimination in your workplace lies in the legal process. Discrimination in the workplace is fairly easy to recognize, both for the employee and their employer. A more difficult issue to identify may be the failure to accommodate a person’s religious observances which the employer knows about or should know about. If your employer does not provide reasonable accommodation for your religious beliefs, you should seek legal guidance as to your options with regard to correcting the failure to accommodate.
Defamation or Harassment in the Workplace
Defamation claims may arise out of allegations by your employer that your performance was somehow lackluster, when it was not. Employers may deliberately give incorrect information about former employees to prospective employers, regardless of whether or not they have been instructed not to do so. When your former employer has blundered in giving references, you should seek guidance as to what your legal rights may be. In general, you should be aware that the civil suits for defamation are rarely, if ever, successful – but if you are facing current issues with your former employer giving out false information about you to prospective employers, you should seek advice immediately.

Mediation Services For Resolving Disputes

ARAG legal insurance is designed to cover a wide range of both planned and unplanned actions concerning the law. Purchasing an ARAG policy before you actually need it is a good safeguard for potential litigation, formal and informal child custody negotiations, business matters and other legal issues.
One particular area that is covered under ARAG policies is alternative dispute resolutions, often abbreviated as ADRs. This is when you and another party involved enter into negotiations to resolve your grievances without going through the courtroom process. ARAG typically provides coverage for mediation, arbitration, neutral evaluation and conciliation services.
Mediation is a process whereby you and the other involved party meet to address the matter at hand. A third-party, neutral mediator may or may not be used. ARAG covers attorney fees, court costs, mediation costs, arbitration costs and associated fees, covering a range of $200 to $2,000 depending on the complexity of the case.
Arbitration involves a more formal situation, where usually a panel of three arbitrators listen to your side of the story and that of the other party. The panel then makes a decision and generally regulates the situation. Attorney fees, court costs, arbitration costs, panel fees and related costs are again all covered, with maximum fees totaling between $200 and $1,500 per covered person per year.

Identity Theft Defense And Recovery Coverage

If the decline of the rule of law is the proximate cause of economic collapse, then identity theft claims to be the underlying cause of the decline in the rule of law. This criminal enterprise has overwhelmed our courts, police, prosecutors, resource allocation, and arguably, created physiological stress on energetic consumers who rely on credit card and paying bills via the internet. ARAG legal insurance is now offering a legal insurance product that includes identity theft protection and recovery. In the event an identity theft incident occurs, a policyholder may submit the facts through an online or telephonic legal query application, or call ARAG’s hotline toll free, where a representative will assign an attorney in the area or department of law where help is needed. The policyholder may be eligible to receive lawyer assistance pre-incident which may include collecting facts, analysis, interpretation of law or identification of suitable preventive services, but typically the attorney assigned is used during the post-incident investigative and remedial stage of the incident . The policyholder’s attorney contacts the creditors, credit bureaus and companies involved directly, obtains copies of documents, files IRS tax forms (if needed), negotiates with creditors for the return of stolen money, facilitates new account set up, restores proper credit rating and submits the necessary forms to cancel fraudulent charges. ARAG legal insurance honors eligibility of credit advice assistance, credit card or bill dispute help under the policy in effect at the time of application. However, if the policyholder wants to have an arrest-related issue addressed in the handling of the incident, prior authorization must be obtained. Of course, the limits of liability on the policy apply and you can expect that ARAG will honor the request for help so long as it falls within the scope of the policy limits. An individual responsible for the administration of the policy on behalf of the insured will make these adjudications on a case by case basis.

Financial Securities When Needed

Having access to qualified legal counsel can significantly reduce legal expenses. The costs of unresolved legal disputes can multiply quickly, especially when considering the potential negative impacts on small businesses. ARAG legal coverage recognizes the value of preventative legal care by providing an affordable means for small businesses to connect with attorneys for initial consultations. Legal costs can often exceed the scope of planned budgets. Having insurance coverage to deal with a potential claim should be considered an important aspect of your overall risk management plan. A broad array of risks that a small business will encounter, from contract review to protection of intellectual property, is not covered under typical liability insurance policies. ARAG legal coverage compliments your other insurance by providing this valuable coverage at a fraction of the potential cost.

How To Use And Claim ARAG Benefits

To take advantage of the benefits provided under your ARAG legal insurance policy, you first must file a claim. To claim, you must have a legal matter adequately described in your policy, and you must retain an attorney to represent and provide service for your claim. Most ARAG legal plans have a simple process for initiating a claim for benefits under the plan. The first step is to contact ARAG by phone or email and describe the situation requiring legal advice. From there, ARAG will direct you to an attorney, arrange a no-cost initial consultation, and track the matter going forward. ARAG attorneys can advise on the situation you are facing and the options you may have, as well as what the plan may or may not cover. In some cases, ARAG may deny these claims on the basis that the coverage does not extend to the type of legal matter you are claiming or because you are not eligible under the plan provisions. If you believe your claim has been improperly denied, you have the right to appeal the decision. An appeal typically involves resubmitting the claim with additional information or documentation supporting your position that the claim was wrongfully denied. In almost all cases, ARAG does not represent you and the claim is only for consulting services with a lawyer. If you retain an attorney to represent you, ARAG will usually allow you access to the attorney with discounted fees. In some circumstances, ARAG will pay a reduced amount toward the attorney’s fees if you are charged hourly rates (for instance, $25.00 per hour or $50.00 per hour). If the matter is resolved in your favor, such as through a financial award, ARAG can later reimburse you once you have paid the full attorney’s fees.

Exclusions And Limitations

While ARAG strives to offer comprehensive coverage, there are several important exclusions and limitations to be aware of. For example, for all contract and contractual disputes, there is no coverage for disputes over the eligibility for benefits through a pension plan or profit-sharing plan or insurance benefits. Other important exclusions and limitations include claims that arise out of:

  • Fraud
  • RICO violations
  • Truth in Lending
  • Fair Credit Reporting Act
  • Fair Debt Collection practices
  • Deceit
  • Malicious Prosecution
  • Assault and Battery
  • Libel and Slander
  • Treble or punitive damages
  • Violation of governmental rules or regulations
  • Traffic claims
  • Lockouts

As with any legal insurance plan , it is important to closely study the terms of coverage, especially the exclusions and limitations. ARAG Insurance does have a strict statute of limitations of two years from the date of the loss to report a claim. Furthermore, aggregated losses that result from a single act can be subject to a single aggregate limit.