About LegalConsumer.com

Empowering New York consumers since 2006

Welcome!

Who We Are

LegalConsumer.com authors have law degrees and decades of experience delivering clear, plain-English legal information to people who need it.

Our Mission

Our goal is to help you solve your problem quickly so you can get on with your life.

1. Learn what to do. 2. Get help if you need it. 3. Get on with your life. 

Life is hard enough. Everything we do at LegalConsumer.com is designed to help you get on with your life with a minimum of hassle, even when -- or especially when -- you're faced with life's tasks that are important but complicated.

1. Learn What To Do

We help you learn what to do by providing free, quality information about the legal issues affecting your life...

...all without you having to sign up for anything or pay any money to anyone.  

The Internet is full of sharks out to take your money. We attempt to guide you through those shark-infested waters to clear, reliable information that can help you solve your problem. 

We're passionate about informing consumers of their rights and how to take advantage of them.

A surprising percentage of consumers do not take advantage of consumer laws and programs, like bankruptcy, or expedited probate procedures, that could help them deal with their situation. Perhaps because they are unaware that these rights and opportunities exist. We'd like to change that, one web visitor at a time. Our goal is to make you a legally savvy consumer who knows your rights and how to enforce them or hire or contact someone who can.

2. Get Help If You Need It

Once you've learned about your problem, you should get help if you need it.

There is no shame in needing help from a lawyer or an insurance broker to ensure you're getting things right. Your situation may be complicated.

Only some people are do-it-yourself-er; others need extra help. That's where our advertisers come in...

We've helped thousands of consumers connect with a local lawyer through the Nolo/Martindale free lawyer-matching service or an Obamacare insurance broker via HealthNetwork.

We also offer a variety of articles to help you shop for a lawyer wisely and understand what you should expect that lawyer to do for you once they're hired.

(We are not affiliated in any way with any of our advertisers. But they help keep this site free to the public.)

3. Get On With Your Life!

At LegalConsumer.com, we hope that the information and resources we provide help you solve the problems that brought you here, looking for answers.

We aim to help you get through life's hassles quickly and safely so you can get on with your life.

We hope you find the answers you are looking for or get closer to finding the best information on the subject.

And good for you for standing up for your rights as a consumer!

Bravo!

How We Are Funded

LegalConsumer.com is a d.b.a of RelationalVision Database Solutions, LLC, and has always been an independent small business — and has never been part of a giant conglomerate, a giant hedge fund, or beholden to bankers, funders, or donors.

From day one, the mission of LegalConsumer.com has been to:

1. Use technology to empower ordinary consumers to protect their rights under local, state, and federal laws — either for free or as cheaply as possible.
   1. We're always looking for new ways that technology can make it simpler for ordinary people to handle their routine legal matters.
2. Be a portal to trustworthy, curated links and legal information in an online sea of schemers and predatory sharks.
   1. If someone out there is doing cool stuff for consumers, we're happy to link to it. 
   2. We like to support the #A2J (Access to Justice) movement that has arisen recently within the tech world. We've been promoting #A2J for 30 years! Welcome to the party!
3. Be a free, open resource for consumers seeking to understand and enforce their rights as consumers under local, state, and federal law.
   1. Offer all this information without requiring anyone to give up personal information about themselves.
   2. Without tracking users without their consent
   3. Without charging for information (by charging advertisers instead). 
4. Help consumers get the most out of hiring a lawyer if they decide to use one.
   1. We'd love to see an army of savvy, educated "Legal Consumers" who:
      1. Know what rights they have under existing consumer laws
      2. Know how to use a lawyer effectively to enforce those rights
5. To provide our lead buyers with quality potential customers
   1. Like most free legal sites on the internet, this site generates income by connecting potential clients to professionals who could use their services. No one likes to waste time with a bad fit. Unlike some sites, LegalConsumer is not just about getting visitors to fill out a lead form. We present information first and follow up if people want more help.
   2. This means lead buyers get fewer "looky-loos" — only in search of basic information, and more users who actually need the extra professional help that lead buyers can provide.
   3. And if a user does need professional help, we encourage them to
      1. Read about how to work effectively and efficiently with a lawyer:
         1. what to expect from the lawyer
         2. what the lawyer will expect from them
      2. Fill in our lead form to connect with local lawyers or health insurance brokers who can help navigate the problem.
6. Try to make the world better without going broke.
   1. Grow organically.
      
      1. All of our traffic is from organic search
      2. 18 million users have found us that way
      3. Thousands of new users find us each month
      4. We've never bought an ad.
   2. Remain independent of wealthy donors or investment bankers to do all this.
      1. LegalConsumer has always maintained a cookie-jar philosophy toward finance.
      2. We've avoided indebtedness to bankers because life is short and who wants to spend their lives having to please bankers?
   3. Focus on Being Useful... the rest will follow
      1. good content
      2. and keep it up to date,
      3. good UX
      4. fast loading pages

Who Visits LegalConsumer.com?

Seventeen years and 18 million users later... we are still at it!

As of this writing (January 2023), a million new users each year find us on search engines when they're looking looking for local information about consumer law on bankruptcy, minimum wages, tips, their local unemployment office, 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 elected officials about a consumer issue or report fraud to a local state agency...

So, seventeen years and counting... 

As long as folks keep finding it helpful, we'll keep improving and updating the site as time permits!

Most Popular Locations in 2023

Metro Regions

1. New York, NY - 53,754 users
2. Chicago, IL - 39,324 users
3. Los Angeles, CA - 35,361 users
4. Atlanta, GA - 34,626 users
5. Washington DC (Hagerstown, MD) - 29,855 users
6. Dallas-Fort Worth - 25,739 users
7. Philadephia, PA - 23,890 users
8. Boston, MA - 17,282 Manchester-NH - users
9. Seattle-Tacoma, WA - 16,518 users
10. San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA - 16,423 users
11. Denver, CO - 16,408 users
12. Phoenix, AZ - 15,700 users
13. Nashville, TN - 14,066 users
14. Charlotte, NC - 13,542 users
15. Houston, TX - 13,276 users
16. Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne, FL - 12,280 users
17. Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN - 11,419 users
18. Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL - 11,170 users
19. Indianapolis, IN - 9,910 users
20. Raleigh-Durham (Fayetteville), NC 9,665 - users

States

1. California - 75,362 users
2. Texas - 61,279 users
3. New York 57,452 users
4. Illinois - 48,931 users
5. Florida - 48,377 users
6. Georgia - 47,474 users
7. Pennsylvania - 35,720 users
8. North Carolina - 33,967 users
9. Virginia - 31,562 Users
10. Ohio - 30,241 Users
11. Tennessee - 28,498 users
12. Washington - 21,692 users
13. Missouri - 20,082 users
14. Michigan - 20,058 users
15. New Jersey - 19,527 users
16. Colorado - 19,087 users
17. Indiana - 18,724 users
18. Arizona - 18,371 users
19. Kentucky - 17,677 users
20. Maryland - 16,933 users

Number of Free Means Test Calculations (approx)

• 2022 - 830 / 1,187 (Finished/Started)
• 2021 - 950 / 1,200
• 2020 - 1,600 / 2,300
• 2019 - 6,000 / 8,000
• 2018 - 7,000 / 10,000
• 2017 - 11,000 / 13,000
• 2016 - 13,000 / 15,000
• 2015 - 14,000 / 16,000

Most Popular Search Landing Pages in 2022

1. Elected Officials (Democracy) / - 643,933
2. Inheritance Law & Probate Courts - 444,724
3. Child Custody & Family Courts - 304,225
4. Unemployment Law & Unemployment Offices - 226, 905
5. Bankruptcy & Means Test Calculator & Bankruptcy Court - 154, 203
6. Wage and Hour Law & Minimum Wage & Tips - 130,914
7. Obamacare & Rates & Providers - 122,380
8. Student Loans  - 16,140
9. Lawyers - 9,149

BY SUBJECT AREA:

Inheritance Law pages (444,724 total views)

1. Local Probate Court Page - 136,065 views
2. Home page - 66,647 views
3. Topics - 227,008 views
   1. State Inheritance Tax  (topic 4) - 69,640 page views
   2. How Probate Works (topic 20) - 39,928 page views
   3. How to Handle A Small Estate (topic 7) - 30,034 page views
   4. What you need to know about inheritance law (topic 28) - 21,039 page views
   5. Who Inherits if your Spouse or Parent Dies without a Will? (topic 39) - 20,709 page views
   6. How to get a TaxID number in your state. (topic 19) - 15,858 page views

Bankruptcy pages (154, 203 total)

1. Means Test - 49,697 page views
2. Bankruptcy Court - 50,757 page views
3. Exemptions - 18,342 page views
4. Topics - 11,703 page views
5. Bankruptcy Lawyers - 7,070 page views
6. Filing Bankruptcy - 3,875 page views
7. Bankruptcy News - 641 page views

Child Custody pages (304,225 total)

1. County Family Court - 139,499 page views
2. Home page - 55,932 page views
3. Topic Pages = 107,054 page views
   1. How to Enforce a Child Custody Order in Your State (topic 5) - 49,244 page views
   2. How State Courts Make Child Custody Decisions  (topic 2)  - 27,104
   3. How Does Child Custody Work in My State?  (topic 7) - 12,427
   4. How To Find A Child Custody Lawyer?  (topic 3) - 9,286

Obamacare pages (122,380 total)

1. Rates and Providers - 24,288 page views
2. Home page - 11,311 page views
3. Topic Pages = 90,511 page views
   1. What State Residents Need to Know About Obamacare  (topic 8) - 35,724
   2. Do I Have to Get Health Insurance in My State? (topic 5) - 25,010
   3. Do I have to get health insurance?  (topic 84) - 2,124

Democracy pages (643,993 views)

1. Elected Officials - 351,282+256,537 page views
2. Home page - 256,537 page views
3. Topic Pages = 36,393 page views
   1. State Legislator List  (topic 44) - 975
   2. Who Are Your States Representatives In Your State's Legislature?  (topic 45) - 871
   3. How to call your Congressional Representative  (topic 16) - 702
   4. How to Confirm or Update Your Voter Registration  (topic 57) - 290

Wage & Hour pages (130,914 total)

1. Minimum Wage - 42,094 page views
2. Home page - 25,161 page views
3. Topic Pages = 63,013 page views
   1. What are my rights to Tips?  (topic 4 or 5) - 39,593
   2. What are my rights to Time Off?  (topic 1) - 9,286