That 'free' online legal document site cost me 300 bucks in court fees

I needed a simple lease agreement for a rental property I own in Phoenix. Found one of those sites that lets you fill out forms for free, figured how hard could a lease be? Printed it out, had the tenant sign, all good. Fast forward 4 months, tenant stopped paying rent and I go to evict? Judge said my lease was missing the required state disclosure about lead paint and a clause about security deposit rules. Had to start over, pay 300 in filing fees, and lost a month of rent. Anyone else get burned by trustin those free templates?

2 comments

2 Comments

christopher_craig14d ago

Heard a lawyer say those free templates miss half the state specific stuff.

mitchell.nancy14d ago

...and the thing nobody talks about is that those free templates also don't cover your local courthouse's specific filing rules. I've seen people show up with a perfectly filled out free will or power of attorney, only to have the clerk reject it because the margins were wrong or it needed a specific cover sheet. Some counties even require a particular font size for the notary section. You'd think the state law would be the main concern, but it's really the nitpicky local procedures that trip people up.