TERMS OF SERVICE
These terms of service ("Terms") cover your use and access to the products, services, software, platform and website (collectively "Services") provided by JCArteche’s Online Documentation & Referral Services and any of its affiliates (collectively "Legal Tree"). By using our Services you agree to be bound by these Terms as well as our Privacy Policy. If you are using our Services as the employee or agent of an organization, you are agreeing to these Terms on that organization’s behalf.
You must be of legal age or otherwise able to form a binding contract with Legal Tree to use the Services. In no event is use of the Services permitted by those under the age of 18.
1. Free and paid accounts
Legal Tree provides free memberships for the limited use of the Services. If free members wish to use additional Services beyond those included in the free membership, they may be asked to separately purchase those Services or to upgrade to a paid membership.
Legal Tree also provides paid memberships to customers who provide a valid payment instrument, such as a credit card or other payment method, and authorize Legal Tree to charge their payment method a recurring monthly membership fee or annual membership fee, as applicable. Legal Tree may automatically charge you for a membership renewal unless you notify us that you want to cancel or downgrade your membership. You can downgrade a paid membership to a free account at any time.
Please visit our pricing page for additional details on our available memberships.
To ensure uninterrupted service and to enable you to conveniently purchase additional products and services, Legal Tree will store and update (e.g. upon expiration) your payment method on file. If we are unable to charge your designated payment method for any reason, we reserve the right to automatically downgrade your paid membership to a free membership or to suspend your paid membership until your designated payment method can be charged again. Please note that it is your responsibility to maintain current billing information on file with Legal Tree.
2. Refund policy
We want you to be 100% satisfied with our Services. If you are less than satisfied or believe there has been an error in billing, please contact us immediately so that we can help you resolve the issue, provide a refund or offer credit that can be used for future Services.
When contacting us please include any details relating to the Services you have purchased so that we can ensure you are completely satisfied with your Legal Tree experience. All refund requests must be made within 30 days of purchase. If you wish to cancel an annual membership, you may apply to receive a prorated refund for the remaining time which has not been used.
We do not offer refunds on payments we have collected for third parties with a role in processing your order. We also cannot refund any money paid by you directly to third parties, such as payments made by you directly to lawyers.
3. Membership downgrade
You may downgrade your paid membership to a free membership anytime through our website. Please note that if you choose to downgrade your membership, Legal Tree reserves the right to collect fees from you to cover fees charged to Legal Tree or its agents on your account’s behalf. In addition, if you fail to provide a payment on time, Legal Tree reserves the right to downgrade your membership without prior notice. Please note that downgrading does not affect your ability to access the documents you created on Legal Tree’s website.
4. Legal Tree is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice
Legal Tree provides a platform for legal information and self-help. The information provided by Legal Tree along with the content on our website related to legal matters (the "Legal Information") is provided for your private use and does not constitute legal advice. We do not review any information you provide us for legal accuracy or sufficiency, draw legal conclusions, provide opinions about your selection of forms or apply the law to the facts of your situation.
If you need legal advice for a specific problem, you should consult with an attorney. Neither Legal Tree nor any Legal Information provided by Legal Tree is a substitute for legal advice from an attorney. As Legal Tree is not a law firm, please note that communications between you and Legal Tree may not be protected as privileged communications under the attorney-client privilege or work-product doctrine.
Your use of the Services does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and Legal Tree, or between you and any Legal Tree employee or representative. Unless you are otherwise represented by an attorney, including a Partner Lawyer, you represent yourself in any legal matter you undertake through our Services.
Legal Tree neither endorses and recommends any attorney nor does it make any warranty as to the qualifications or competency of any attorney.
5. Interactions with attorneys on Legal Tree
When you use our Services, you will have the opportunity to initiate contact with an independent attorney (a "Partner Lawyer"). Partner Lawyers are neither employees nor agents of Legal Tree. Partner Lawyers are third-party independent contractors who have agreed to provide online answers, limited consultations or other basic legal services to Legal Tree users. Communicating with a Partner Lawyer through Legal Tree is not required. However, if you choose to communicate with a Partner Lawyer through Legal Tree, please note the following:
When you contact a Partner Lawyer through Legal Tree, he or she may provide you with an initial consultation, legal review of your forms or documents or answers to your legal questions. Please note that any such interaction is intended to be a starting point for dealing with a legal matter or addressing basic legal questions and any attorney-client relationship formed during the course of that interaction is strictly between you and the Partner Lawyer and expressly EXCLUDES Legal Tree.
When you contact a Partner Lawyer through Legal Tree, he or she may ask you for some information regarding you and your legal affairs in order to properly address your questions. By using our Services, you consent to sharing such personally identifying information for the purpose of securing legal advice with both the requesting attorney and with Legal Tree. Legal Tree will have access to any communications submitted through our platform for fulfilment and quality assurance purposes.
When you contact a Partner Lawyer through Legal Tree, you control the both the duration and depth of the interaction. Any attorney-client relationship formed during the course of that interaction may, at your option, either
end when the interaction with the Partner Lawyer ends, or
continue if you wish to engage the Partner Lawyer for further legal services.
If you wish to create an attorney-client relationship with a Partner Lawyer that extends beyond your use of our Services, that relationship will be on whatever terms you establish with the attorney in question. Those terms do not involve Legal Tree and we do not set, control or influence them. For example, the Partner Lawyer may ask you to sign a formal representation agreement regarding the scope of work they will perform, the cost of their legal services, and the handling of any out of pocket expenses they may incur.
Partner Lawyers may be compensated by Legal Tree for Services performed on your behalf, however, Legal Tree does not receive any share of legal fees collected by any attorneys in our network. In all cases, Legal Tree will neither influence nor interfere in any way with any attorney's independent professional judgment. Partner Lawyers reserve the right to refuse to perform legal services on your behalf in their sole discretion.
Legal Tree is an information provider and does not endorse or recommend any attorney, including any of the Partner Lawyers. Legal Tree makes no representation or warranty as to the qualifications or competency of any Partner Lawyer or as to the accuracy or completeness of any Partner Lawyer's work.
LEGAL TREE WILL HAVE NO RESPONSIBILITY OR LIABILITY OF ANY KIND FOR ANY PROFESSIONAL SERVICES RENDERED BY ANY ATTORNEY YOU ENCOUNTER ON OR THROUGH OUR WEBSITE, AND ANY USE OR RELIANCE ON SUCH PROFESSIONAL SERVICES IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK.
6. Attorney profiles on our website are not advertisements
Attorney profiles on our website are not advertisements and should not be interpreted as such. Legal Tree does not investigate, verify or warrant the accuracy of the information contained in any attorney profile on our website. Partner Lawyers are third-party independent contractors solely responsible for the advice they give, the services they provide and the representations about themselves they make. You are solely responsible for assessing the quality, integrity, suitability and trustworthiness of all persons with whom you communicate regarding your legal needs.
7. Terminating memberships and restricting access
Legal Tree reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to downgrade or terminate your access to the Services for any reason and at any time without prior notice. For example, we may suspend or terminate your use of the Services if you are not complying with these Terms, or if you are using the Services in a manner that would expose us to legal liability, disrupt the Services or disrupt others' use of the Services.
If Legal Tree elects to terminate your account, Legal Tree will provide you with notice at your registered email address. Legal Tree also reserves the right to modify or discontinue, either temporarily or permanently, any part of its Services with notice. You agree that Legal Tree will not be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension, or discontinuance of your membership in the Services.
8. Ownership and preservation of your documents
Legal Tree does not claim ownership of any documents you either create or upload and store using our Services ("Documents"). You grant permission for Legal Tree to use your Documents in connection with providing Services to you.
You acknowledge and agree that Legal Tree may preserve these Documents as well as disclose them if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to accomplish any of the following: (1) to comply with legal process, applicable laws or government requests; (2) to enforce these Terms; (3) to respond to claims that any content violates the rights of third parties; or (4) to protect the rights, property, or personal safety of Legal Tree, its users and the public. You understand that the technical processing and transmission of the Service, including your content, may involve transmissions over various networks and changes to conform and adapt to technical requirements of connecting networks or devices. You agree that Legal Tree has no responsibility or liability for deleting or failing to store any content maintained or uploaded by the Services.
9. Consent to receive emails
By creating an account you agree that you may receive communications from Legal Tree, such as newsletters, special offers, and account reminders and updates. You also understand that you can remove yourself from these communications by unsubscribing thereto.
10. Acceptable use of communications services
Our Services include a large number of what are collectively called "Communications Services." These include services such as live chats and emails and other message services. You agree to use the Communication Services only to post, send, and receive messages or materials proper to and related to the particular Communication Service. When using a Communication Service you agree that you will not do any of the following:
Although Legal Tree has no obligation to monitor the Communication Services, we reserve the right, in our own discretion, to review and remove materials posted to a Communication Service, in whole or in part. Legal Tree reserves the right to disclose any materials posted, information or activity as necessary to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request.
11. No unlawful or prohibited use
You can only use our Services in a manner that does not violate Philippine law. By using our Services you accept sole responsibility that you or any family member's use of or access to our Services does not violate Philippine law. To enforce this provision, Legal Tree reserves the right to refuse membership, or suspend or terminate your account immediately and without prior notice at our sole discretion.
The following are specifically excluded or prohibited:
You may not hack, "scrape" or "crawl" our website whether directly or through intermediaries such as spiders, robots, crawlers, scrapers, framing, iframes or RSS feeds, or otherwise access or attempt to access any information Legal Tree has not intentionally made available to you. Your use of our website does not entitle you to resell any Legal Tree content without prior express written consent from Legal Tree.
12. License grant
Subject to your compliance with these Terms, you are hereby granted a non-exclusive, limited, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Services as we intend for them to be used. As a registered Legal Tree member, you are licensed to keep, for your own personal records, electronic or physical copies of documents you have created on Legal Tree. You may not copy the content of Legal Tree’s forms or agreements for use or sale outside of Legal Tree. Any rights not expressly granted in these Terms are reserved by Legal Tree.
When you transmit user content on Legal Tree, you hereby grant Legal Tree and its affiliates a nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable and fully sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display any such content, including throughout the world in any media. If you submit feedback or suggestions about our Services, we may use your feedback or suggestions without obligation to you.
Resale or unauthorized distribution of materials downloaded from the Legal Tree website is strictly prohibited. Use of these materials is for your personal or business use. Any resale or redistribution of our materials requires the express, written consent of Legal Tree.
13. Intellectual Property rights
Legal Tree retains all right, title and interest in its products and services, including, without limitation, software, images, text, graphics, illustrations, logos, service marks, copyrights, photographs, videos, music, and all related intellectual property rights. Except as otherwise provided in this agreement, you may not, and may not permit others to:
The design, text, graphics and selection and arrangement thereof and services and the legal forms, documents, guidance and all other content found on our website (the "Service Content") are copyright of Legal Tree and its owners. All rights reserved.
14. Links to 3rd party sites
Legal Tree’s website may contain links to third party resources and businesses on the Internet, called here "links" or "Linked Sites". Those links are provided for your convenience to help you identify and locate other Internet resources that may be of interest to you. Legal Tree does not sponsor and is not legally associated with any third party "linked sites." Legal Tree is not legally authorized to use any trade name, registered trademark, logo, official seal or copyrighted material that may appear in the link.
Legal Tree does not control, endorse or monitor the contents of any Linked Site. That includes, without limitation, any further link contained in a Linked Site, and any changes or updates to a Linked Site. Legal Tree is not responsible for webcasting or for any other form of transmission received from any Linked Site. These Terms do not cover your interaction with Linked Sites. You should carefully review the terms and conditions and privacy policies of any third party sites.
If you use any service provided on a Linked Site, (a) Legal Tree will not be responsible for any act or omission of the third party, including the third party's access to or use of your customer data; and (b) Legal Tree does not warrant or support any service provided by the third party.
15. Disclaimer of representations and liability
The information, software, products and services made available through Legal Tree may include inaccuracies or typographical errors. Legal Tree may at any time make improvements or changes to our Services. Information received via Legal Tree should not be relied upon for personal, medical, legal, or financial decisions. You should consult an appropriate professional for specific advice tailored to your situation. In short your use of our Services is at your own risk.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Legal Tree and its affiliates make no warranties, either express or implied, about the Services. The Services are provided “as is”. We also disclaim any warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. Information and opinions received via our website should not be relied upon for personal, medical, legal or financial decisions and you should consult an appropriate professional for specific advice tailored to your situation.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, in no event will Legal Tree and its affiliates be liable for any indirect, special, incidental, punitive, exemplary or consequential damages or any loss of use, data, business or profits regardless of legal theory, whether or not Legal Tree has been warned of the possibility of such damages, and even if a remedy fails of its essential purpose.
Legal Tree’s aggregate liability for all claims relating to the Services will in no event exceed Php 10,000.00.
16. Release and indemnity
On behalf of yourself and your heirs, executors, agents, representatives, and assigns, fully release, forever discharge, and hold Legal Tree and its affiliates and their respective officers, employees and agents free and harmless from any and all losses, damages, expenses, including reasonable attorneys' fees, rights, claims, and actions of any kind and injury (including death) arising out of or relating to your use of the Service. You agree that this release has been freely and voluntarily consented to and you confirm that you fully understand what you are agreeing to.
You agree to indemnify and hold Legal Tree and its affiliates and their respective officers, employees and agent harmless from any and all losses, damages, expenses, including reasonable attorneys' fees, rights, claims, actions of any kind and injury (including death) arising out of any third party claims relating to your use of the Service, your violation of these Terms or your violation of any rights of another.
17. Class action waiver
You may only resolve disputes with us on an individual basis, and may not bring a claim as a plaintiff or a class member in a class, consolidated, or representative action. Class actions and consolidation with other actions aren't allowed.
18. Governing law
These Terms will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Philippines.
19. Entire agreement
These Terms constitute the whole agreement between Legal Tree and you and supersedes any previous agreements between us relating to the subject matter hereof.
20. Severability, waiver and assignment
If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid, the remaining provisions of these Terms will remain in full force and an enforceable term will be substituted reflecting our intent as closely as possible. Legal Tree’s failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of its right to do so later. Legal Tree may assign its rights to anyone.
21. Modifications
We may revise these Terms from time to time, and will always post the most current version on our website. By continuing to use or access the Services after the revisions come into effect, you agree to be bound by the revised Terms.
