Divorce by download: cheap or even free

My mission: Test-drive commercial computer software that generates legal documents. 

Step 1: Prowl the Internet for the software.

Step 2: Put the car keys away. You can download forms to fill out on a computer and print for the courthouse files.

Step 3: All the choices made my head spin. To simplify, I price-shopped. Rejecting kits costing up to $59.95, I chose Internet Legal Research Group’s package of forms for an uncontested Maryland divorce and a marital-settlement agreement for $9.99 each. The Web site promised an instant download in either PDF or Microsoft Word format and a full refund if I wasn’t satisfied.

Step 4: Within minutes of sending my credit card number, I received an e-mail with the forms attached and a receipt for $19.98. I saved hard copies of my forms and electronic copies to complete on the computer. Five pages on how to fill out the forms and when to seek an attorney’s advice are included.

Step 5: I asked Gregory Hurley of the National Center for State Courts to review my purchase. He spotted a code on the bottom right of every form, except the settlement agreement, that identified their source as the state of Maryland. He found the forms and instructions—free—at www.courts.state.md.us/family/forms.  

“I didn’t find the Marital Settlement Agreement, but there’s not much to it,” Hurley said. “What this service is really selling is, they’ve located the forms for you. At least they’re not charging hundreds of dollars for something you can get for free. I’d find that offensive, from a consumer standpoint.”  

If I actually wanted a divorce, Hurley said, the ILRG forms would probably work fine in an uncomplicated case. Along with its money-back guarantee, ILRG touts a telephone helpline, but its service has to tiptoe around a 2007 federal appeals court ruling against an Internet bankruptcy petition preparer for the unauthorized practice of law.