Our Mission 

From day one, in 2006, and for sixteen years since, the mission of LegalConsumer.com has been to:

1. Create ways to use relational database technology to empower ordinary consumers to protect their rights under local, state, and federal laws — either for free, or as cheaply as possible.
2. Be a free, open resource for consumers seeking to understand and enforce their rights as consumers under local, state, and federal law
3. Be a portal to trustworthy, curated links and information, in an online sea of schemers and predatory sharks.
4. Offer all of this information without requiring anyone to give up any personal information about themselves.
5. To educate consumers on how to get the most out of hiring a lawyer, if they decide to use one.
6. Keep doing this as long we're not going broke, and enough people find what we're doing useful to them.
7. Keep the business lean and simple and not dependent on wealthy donors or investment bankers to do all this.

Sixteen years, and 18 million users later... we are still at it! Apparently lots of you find what we're doing here useful, so we'll keep doing it!

As of this writing (April 2022), after all these years, we continue to get over 1 million new users each year looking for local information about consumer law on bankruptcy, minimum wage, tips, their local unemployment offices, their local probate court, estate taxes, the local family court (to deal with child custody matters)...

Some are simply looking to find out how to contact their local elected officials about a consumer issue, or to report fraud to a local state agency.

Our Content

We currently offer information for California and Kern County on:

• Unemployment Benefits (including the latest COVID-19 updates from California.)
• Wage & Hour  (Wages, tips, paid time off, overtime, minimum wage, family and medical leave)
• Bankruptcy (How to file, means test for Kern County, bankruptcy court, California’s exemptions, lawyers)
• Obamacare  (ACA -Affordable Care Act, Rates)
• Inheritance Law (Probate court in Kern County, small estates, inheritance tax, expedited probate, California’s intestacy laws)
• Child Custody Law (Visitation, custody of children, family court directory for California and Kern County, child custody lawyers)
• Democracy, (Voting Rights in California, & Local Government for Kern County and Bakersfield)

Your Portal to the Best Legal Resources on the Web

LegalConsumer has always been designed to be a portal to the best resources on the web on the subjects it covers.

We have never attempted to be "everything you need" to complete your legal task, but we DO strive to point you to the best web resources that can help you get your job done!

Whether it be a direct link to the California Eastern District Bankruptcy Court court's forms, or a phone number the the California unemployment agency that can help you get your benefits, or ways to connect with a local lawyer who serves Bakersfield, and knows how to handle your kind of case in Kern County, we point you to resources that help you get the job done. From day one, our mission here has always been to help you  "Learn what do to. Get help if you need it. Get on with your life!" as quickly and painlessly as possible.

How we pay the bills

This site is supported by selling ads, via Google AdSense (and other ad networks that work through the Google ad network), and, in many zip codes, the sale of "leads" (via affiliate  networks like Martindale/Nolo and LegalBrandMarketing)  to lawyers who are willing pay a bit for the privilege getting in touch with potential clients, like you, and giving you a free consultation about your situation, if you're thinking of hiring a lawyer.

Onward!

So.. sixteen years and counting! It looks like we'll keep on doing this, and keep improving and updating the site, as time permits, so long as you all keep finding it useful!