Legal Insights
Consumer Rights
Plain-English consumer rights guides, written and reviewed by our editorial team.
Consumer Rights
What Is Discovery in a Lawsuit?
A practical guide to discovery, document requests, interrogatories, depositions, subpoenas, admissions, privilege, objections, sanctions, and settlement leverage.
Editorial guide
Consumer Rights
What Is Due Diligence in a Business Deal?
A practical guide to due diligence in business purchases, investments, partnerships, leases, contracts, IP, liabilities, employees, taxes, and closing decisions.
Editorial guide
Consumer Rights
What Is Escrow and How Does It Work?
A practical guide to escrow in real estate and transactions, including deposits, closing funds, title, instructions, disputes, timelines, and when money can be released.
Editorial guide
Consumer Rights
What Is the Statute of Limitations?
A plain-English guide to statutes of limitations, filing deadlines, accrual, discovery rules, tolling, claims, defenses, state differences, and why waiting can destroy a case.
Editorial guide
Consumer Rights
What to Do If Someone Breaches a Contract
A step-by-step guide to responding to breach of contract, preserving evidence, notice and cure, damages, mitigation, demand letters, settlement, arbitration, and lawsuits.
Editorial guide
Consumer Rights
What to Do If You're Being Evicted
A practical guide to eviction notices, court papers, defenses, rent records, repairs, retaliation, emergency rental assistance, settlement, and when to get legal help.
Editorial guide
Consumer Rights
Your Rights Under the Fair Debt Collection Act
A practical guide to debt collector rights, validation notices, harassment, communication limits, disputed debts, time-barred debts, lawsuits, complaints, and documentation.
Editorial guide
Consumer Rights
Should Bankruptcy Wipe the Slate Clean? Local Loan Co. v. Hunt
A 1934 Supreme Court case asks a question we still argue about: when someone can't pay, how much of a second chance do they deserve — and who pays for it? The facts, the ruling, and the dilemma underneath.
Editorial guide
Consumer Rights
Estate Planning 101: Wills, Trusts, and Protecting Your Family
A plain-English guide to wills, trusts, probate, powers of attorney, healthcare directives, beneficiary designations, guardians for children, estate taxes, and the mistakes that leave families stuck in court.
Editorial guide
Consumer Rights
Bankruptcy Explained: Chapter 7 vs. Chapter 13 and Everything Around It
What bankruptcy actually does, who qualifies, how Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 really work, exemptions, which debts survive, the step-by-step process, the credit impact, and the alternatives worth weighing first.
Editorial guide
Consumer Rights
Chapter 7 vs. Chapter 13 Bankruptcy: Which Is Right for You?
The two most common consumer bankruptcies, compared in plain English.
Editorial guide
Consumer Rights
Wills vs. Trusts: The Basics of Estate Planning
Two core estate-planning tools, and how they differ.
Editorial guide