Please Read the Following License Terms of Use Before Using Legal Information or Purchasing Forms or Document Preparation Services.
DISCLAIMER
TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND LICENSE AGREEMENT BETWEEN
SMARTLEGALFORMS, INC. AND YOU
The Divorce Law Information Center is not a law firm; we do not offer legal advice. The information provided by The Divorce Law Information Center is offered for informational purposes only and is "legal information" as defined by Opinion No. 95-056 (December 19, 1995) of the Attorney General of the State of Maryland. The Divorce Law Information Center offers legal information that is similar to that provided by self-help law books and legal forms offered for sale through retail outlets.
Document Preparation Services:
Note that we do not offered document preparation services in every state. Some states such as North Carolina and Missouri consider document preparation services by non-lawyers to be the unauthorized practice of law, so we do not offer this service in those states. Once the documents are prepared, we will provide the state-specific forms and detailed filing instructions (via e-mail) for your review. If you recognize any corrections or changes are required, please e-mail our staff. Any typographical errors, mistakes by our staff, or minor changes can be made by our staff for no additional fees. Each of our customers is also welcome to revise their own documents to further suit their needs. Please be advised that we are not responsible for any edits which our customers may make to their documents and/or the implications of these edits in regards to the documents themselves.
We offer no legal
advice, recommendations, mediation or counseling under any circumstance.
We are not a law firm, and our employees are not acting as your attorney. Our review of your answers
is limited solely to completeness, spelling and grammar, as well as internal
consistency of names, addresses and the like. At no time do we review your
answers for legal sufficiency, draw legal conclusions, provide advice or apply
the law to the facts of your particular situation. This Site is not intended
to create an attorney-client relationship, and by using our services,, no
attorney-client relationship will be created. You are totally and solely
responsible for your own selections and actions.
Our staff cannot make recommendations for any corrections or changes to
documents. Any text which is to be revised or replaced must be identified
appropriately and detailed replacement text provided by the customer. In
short, our customers have the option of either (a) providing us with detailed
exact replacement text or (b) revising the document themselves.
If our staff is asked to make drastic changes or ongoing revisions, additional charges may be warranted. These situations are considered on a case-by-case basis. No additional charges are ever made without a customer's direct approval.
These Terms and
Conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of
the State of Maryland USA, as they apply to agreements made and solely
performed therein. Disputes arising hereunder shall be exclusively subject to
the jurisdiction of the state courts of Maryland..
This Site exists only in the State of Maryland, and the Site only performs
services within the State of Maryland. You agree that your viewing and use of
this Site occurs solely within the State of Maryland, regardless of where your
browser is physically located, and that all content and services are located
in, served from, and performed wholly within the State of Maryland.
Our Document
Preparation Service complies with guidelines established by the Attorney
General of the State of Maryland in Opinion of the Attorney General of the
State of
A Lay advocate, which is defined as a person not an attorney, may assist a member of the public by:
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providing basic information about the existence of legal right and remedies;
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provide basic information about the manner in which judicial proceedings are conducted;
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assist a person to prepare a legal leading or other legal document on her own behalf by defining unfamiliar terms on a form, explaining where on a form the person is to provide certain information, and if necessary transcribing or otherwise recording the person's own words verbatim.
Our company cannot provide legal advice for any situation or case. As such we cannot make personal recommendations as to what documents should or should not be used and cannot attempt to predict the legal impact of using any certain response or form.
I understand that my situation may be unique, and that the legal information within offered may not fit my circumstances, in which case seeking the advice of an attorney would be advisable. Although every care has been taken to insure the accuracy of the information provided, we do not promise, warranty, or guarantee that the information is correct, complete, or up-to-date. We are not responsible for any errors or omissions in the resources or information available within this Web site.
Each form and document should be treated as a starting point and should not substitute for professional legal analysis. The service of the site, our forms and documents, is licensed with the understanding and agreement that we, any content provider, and any author, are not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional services. If legal or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. The user assumes all responsibilities and obligations with respect to any decisions or advice made or given as a result of the use of any form or document and for the selection of a form or document to achieve the user's intended results.
DEFINED TERMS
In these Terms:
"Disclaimer" means the disclaimer of liability contained in these terms;
"Documents" means any legal document downloaded from a Website (as detailed in these terms);
"ESP" means Epoch Software Holdings Plc;
"Guide" the Website law guide;
"ML" means SmartLegalForms, Inc.
"Personal Data" means personal data that identifies you;
"Service" means the SmartLegalForms document assembly service based on the Rapidocs system and other document assembly technologies.;
"Terms" means these terms [and conditions];
"You" means the individual person who has subscribed or become a member of the ML Service, and if so indicated below, the immediate family members of such person (spouse and children that reside in the same house or apartment).
"Website" means any website operated by ML.
AGREEMENT
This is a binding legal agreement between yourself and ML. Your use of this Website and/or your acceptance without modification of the terms, conditions, and disclaimers contained in these Terms constitutes your agreement to all such terms, conditions, and disclaimers. If you do not agree with these terms then you are not authorized to use this Website.
OUR AIMS
The Service is intended to bring to the legal market place a product which has never existed in the past, namely an automated fixed fee document assembly system as a means to document various legal transactions in a price competitive way. As indicated elsewhere in this Terms and Conditions Statement, the legal information and legal documents available from this website is not a substitute for the legal advice of an attorney who is a member of the bar of the state where you live.
THE GUIDE
While every precaution has been taken in compiling the Service, neither ML, nor any contributors to the Guide can be held responsible for any action (or the lack thereof) taken by any person or organization, wherever they shall be based, as a result, direct or otherwise, of information contained in or accessed through the Guide. ANYONE USING THE GUIDE IS RECOMMENDED TO SEEK SPECIFIC ADVICE FROM AN ATTORNEY WHO IS A MEMBER OF THE BAR IN THE STATE IN WHICH YOU ARE RESIDENT BEFORE DEALING WITH ANY SITUATION WHICH MAY BE COVERED BY ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED IN ANY PART OF THE GUIDE OR BEFORE EMBARKING ON ANY COURSE OF ACTION.
LEGAL DOCUMENT SERVICE
Limitations on the Service
You can purchase either non-interactive legal forms or interactive legal forms powered by Rapidocs from this web site. The interactive forms option is known as the ML Service. You must be aware that the Service is driven by a document assembly system into which standard legal documents have been inserted in an interactive format. When used the software will automatically produce a version of a Document based on a standard text utilizing the information you have entered. It is however a computer system and while it is interactive, it does not have human like intelligence and does not have the capacity to think outside the pre-programmed information contained in it.
What you are purchasing from ML is a legal product in the form of an "interactive" document which contains the 'know-how' of ML's expert legal drafters and it is not a legal service. The legal document products provided are not a substitute for legal advice provided by a duly licensed attorney. While ML has taken every care in ensuring the accuracy of the contents of the Documents, due to the continuing changing nature of the legal systems as well as statute and common law the information contained in the Documents will during the passage of time become outdated.
ML will use reasonable efforts to update Documents. ML believes that the Documents contain sufficient information to provide you with a starting point in the process of assembling a standard legal document. The Documents are not suitable to provide expert legal advice or where any particular transaction will require the Documents to be amended or altered. They should be utilized as a guide only to production of the relevant documentation for the particular purpose ascribed to it.
Telephone Support
Telephone Support will be provided during office hours which are [9.00am] to [6.00pm] Monday to Friday. While ML will do its best to procure support within [48] hours of the timed receipt of your e-mail request for support ML cannot guarantee that this will be the case and it will depend upon the available resources within the call center and the current workload on the system.
Title and Ownership; No Commercial use limitation; terms of license
(a) No transfer of title: The Website and Documents, and copies of Documents or the Website downloaded by you are owned exclusively by ML, and are licensed to you as provided for in this Terms and Conditions of Use; ML does not transfer to you title to any tangible copy, or original, of the Documents or any part of the Website.
(b) License: Upon payment of applicable fees in respect of a Document, you are authorized to: (i) make use of the Document for your own personal use, or for the personal use of your immediate family members. "Personal use" means that the Document or Website may be copied and used one or more times in respect of a matter or matters in which You (and/or your immediate family member(s)) are personally involved as a party. You may not use the Website or the Documents for any other purpose, and all other rights to the Documents and Website are specifically reserved. You may not remove the copyright notice and any terms of license from any Document or any part of the Website, or use the Documents for any commercial purpose whatsoever. Ownership and copyright in the Documents and Website belong solely to ML. You may not modify, copy, distribute, transmit, display, perform, reproduce, publish, license, create derivative works from, transfer, or sell any information, products or services obtained from this Website.
Re-use of the documents
We recommend that you check the Website regularly to ensure that the Documents are the latest versions before reuse. If they are not and ML has replaced them with revised versions you are recommended to upgrade to the latest version.
Limitation of liability in respect of the Documents
ML has included within this agreement a disclaimer in respect of its liability in respect of the documents. Please read it carefully as the following are the terms upon which ML provides Documents to you. -----------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER RELATING TO THE DOCUMENTS
PLEASE READ THIS IMPORTANT NOTICE WHICH AFFECTS YOUR RIGHTS
IF YOU USE ANY DOCUMENT IN THE SERVICE, IT WILL BE ON THE TERMS WHICH ARE STATED IN THIS DISCLAIMER.
DOCUMENTS AVAILABLE ON THE SERVICE HAVE BEEN PREPARED BY ML. WHILE ML HAS USED REASONABLE CARE IN PREPARING THE DOCUMENTS, IN THE MAJORITY OF CASES THEY WILL HAVE TO BE TAILORED TO SUIT YOUR PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES. THEREFORE THE BASIS ON WHICH YOU PURCHASE OR MAKE USE OF ANY DOCUMENT IS THAT THE DOCUMENT IS SUITABLE TO BE USED BY YOU IN CONJUNCTION WITH PROPER ADVICE AS TO ITS APPLICATION AND ADAPTATION FOR YOUR PARTICULAR REQUIREMENTS. THE DOCUMENTS ARE NOT MADE AVAILABLE TO YOU ON ANY OTHER BASIS. PLEASE NOTE ALSO THAT THE DOCUMENTS HAVE BEEN PREPARED IN LIGHT OF THE LAWS OF A PARTICULAR STATE AS SET FORTH IN THE DOCUMENT, AND THEY WILL NOT BE SUITABLE IN OTHER STATES OR OVERSEAS. YOU SHOULD NOT USE THEM IF ANY PERSON WHO IS TO SIGN THE DOCUMENT OR THE PROPERTY WHICH THE DOCUMENT DEALS WITH IS OUTSIDE THE STATE WHERE YOU LIVE OR INTEND TO USE THE DOCUMENT.
ML DOES NOT TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR, AND YOU AGREE THAT ML IS NOT LIABLE FOR, LEGAL ADVICE PROVIDED BY ANY PERSON, WHETHER OR NOT SUCH PERSON WAS A REFERRAL FROM ML. ADVICE YOU RECEIVE FROM A LAWYER IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE ATTORNEY OR OTHER PERSON ADVISING YOU.
ML WILL NOT HAVE ANY RESPONSIBILITY AT ALL FOR ANY ALTERATIONS THAT MAY BE MADE TO ANY DOCUMENT AFTER YOU HAVE DOWNLOADED OR ACCESSED. PLEASE NOTE ALSO THAT ANY RESPONSIBILITY THAT ML MAY HAVE TO YOU WILL NOT EXTEND TO ANY OF THE FOLLOWING: LOSS OR DAMAGE WHICH WE CANNOT REASONABLY FORESEE MAY HAPPEN; OR, LOSS OR DAMAGE WHICH CONSISTS OF OR INCLUDES ANY WASTED EXPENDITURE, INDIRECT LOSS, LOSS OF PROFITS OR ANTICIPATED PROFITS OR GAINS OF ANY DESCRIPTION OR LOSS OF BUSINESS.
IF A COURT OR ANY OTHER BODY HAVING THE POWER TO RULE ON DISPUTES DECIDES THAT ANY PART OF THIS DISCLAIMER IS NOT REASONABLE OR CANNOT BE ENFORCED FOR ANY REASON, THIS WILL NOT AFFECT THE VALIDITY OF THE OTHER PARTS OF THIS DISCLAIMER WHICH WILL CONTINUE TO BE IN FULL FORCE AND EFFECT.
Complaints
ML is dedicated to providing you with quality products. However in the unlikely event you should have any complaint with regard to our service or any of the products purchased from ML, please send an e-mail to support@smartlegalforms.com. ML will investigate your complaint and respond to you as quickly as possible and usually within 2 business days of receipt of your e-mail.
Privacy Policy
Because your privacy is important to us we: ask when we need Personal Data; and, we use your Personal Data only to operate the service and to inform you of new features, services, and products supplied by ourselves or selected third parties. If you wish to discontinue receiving such offers, you may opt out by 'un-ticking' the boxes on the registration page or by contacting us direct. Click here to review our detailed Privacy Policy.
Copyright and trademark notices
The 'SmartLegalForms' logo, and the 'RAPIDOCS' logo are used under license from ESH and SmartLegalForms, Inc. Other company names mentioned on the Website may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
All contents of this Website are copyright: � SmartLegalforms, Inc. 2001-20116. No part of the site may be reproduced in any form whether electronically or otherwise without the prior consent of ML, other than temporarily in the course of using the Service or to keep a record of a transaction entered into using the Service.
Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved.
Legal identity
This service is operated by SmartLegalForms, nc. If you obtain services from a third party then your contractual relationship is with that third party and not with SmartLegalForms, Inc.
Prohibited use
As a condition of your use of this Website, you warrant to us that you will not use this Website for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these terms, conditions, and notices.
Hyperlinks
This Website contains hyperlinks to websites operated by third parties. Such hyperlinks are provided for your reference only. We do not control such websites and we can not be responsible for their contents. Our inclusion of hyperlinks to such websites does not imply any endorsement of the material on such websites.
General warranty and liability disclaimer; limitation of liability
(a) Warranty. ML MAKES NO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, AND HEREBY DISCLAIMS ALL SUCH WARRANTIES, INCLUDING ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR WARRANTY OF NON-INFRINGEMENT.
(b) Liability. In no event will ML, or ESH be liable for any indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages arising out of or in any way connected with the use of the Documents, this Website or the telephone support service whether based in contract, tort, strict liability or otherwise. The liability of any of ML, or ESH for direct loss arising out of the use of the Documents, this Website, and the telephone support service whether based in contract, tort, strict liability or otherwise is limited to the total amount paid, if any, by you to ML.
Modifications
We reserve the right to change any terms, conditions, and disclaimers under which this Website or any service offered through it are offered. This right will not affect the existing terms and conditions accepted by you upon making a legitimate purchase using this Website.
Statutory rights
These Terms will not affect your statutory rights as a consumer.
Non transferability
Your right to use the Website and the Documents is not transferable without the specific written consent of ML.
Access codes and passwords; no hacking
When you sign up as a member of ML, you may be provided a password or other access code to download Documents or otherwise make use of portions of the site that are not generally available to the public. You agree that these passwords and access rights are owned by ML and that you will not disclose these passwords or access codes to anyone or by any means, and that you will maintain such access codes and passwords securely so that no other person may gain access to such codes.
Representation of true intent
You represent that you are using the Website and the Documents under your own name, and not under a pseudonym, fictitious name or under an alias or similar false name, and that all information you have provided about yourself to ML is true and accurate and not falsified.
Disclosure of information; Security
Unless provided otherwise in ML's privacy policy, ML will not provide any personally identifying information to any third party without your consent (which consent may be obtained electronically via e-mail or form fill in on the Website); provided however that you are advised that in the event ML determines in its reasonable discretion that disclosure of personal identifying information is necessary to comply with any law, rule order, subpoena, civil investigative request or demand, discovery request or any other legal requirement, ML may disclose your personally identifying information to comply with such request, and it may be disclosed without prior notice to you. ML agrees to take reasonable efforts to protect your personally identifying information in the event of such disclosure, provided however, that you agree that ML shall not be liable to you for any claim by you that ML failed to exercise reasonable care in protecting your personally identifying information. You also acknowledge that, despite efforts of ML to maintain your information secure, the internet is inhabited by many criminal and otherwise malicious persons who may attempt to crack into ML's computer systems, and that despite ML's efforts, such person's may be able to obtain copies of your personally identifying information. You agree that ML is not responsible to you for any inadvertent disclosure or unauthorized access by any third party of your personally identifying information.
General
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Maryland You hereby consent to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the State of Maryland in all disputes arising out of or relating to the use of this Website. Use of this Website is unauthorized in any jurisdiction that does not give effect to all provisions of these Terms, including without limitation this clause.
If any part of these Terms is determined to be invalid or unenforceable pursuant to applicable law including, but not limited to, the warranty disclaimers and limitations set forth above, then the invalid or unenforceable provision will be deemed superseded by a valid, enforceable provision that most closely matches the intent of the original provision and the remainder of these Terms will continue in effect. These Terms constitute the entire agreement between us with respect to this Website and they supersede all prior or contemporaneous communications and proposals, whether electronic, oral, or written. A printed version of these terms and of any notice given in electronic form will be admissible in judicial or administrative proceedings based upon or relating to these terms to the same extent and subject to the same conditions as other business documents and records originally generated and maintained in printed form.