Policies

This site contains information about Legal Services for Maine Elders, our staff and the ways we may be able to help you. It also contains client education materials which we hope you will find helpful.  Finally, this site contains links to other organizations which also may be able to help you.

The information provided at this web site is for informational purposes only. The materials on this site should not be construed as rendering legal advice or constituting a legal opinion for specific situations. Instead, they provide general information about the law in effect at the time the materials were written.

If you need help with regard to a specific situation, you should always seek the advice of a lawyer. Please call our Helpline at 1-800-750-5353, (toll-free in Maine) and we will try to help you or refer you to someone who can.

General Disclaimer:

Please read this agreement carefully before using this web site.

By accessing the web site, you agree to be bound by the terms and conditions below. If you do not wish to be bound by these terms and conditions, you should not access or use the web site.

Copyright Statement:

You may download, use and copy the materials found on the web site for your personal, informational, noncommercial use only, provided that all copies that you make of the material must bear any copyright, trademark or other proprietary notice located on the site which pertains to the material being copied. Except as authorized in this paragraph, you are not being granted a license under any copyright, trademark, patent or other intellectual property right in the material found or described herein. All such rights are retained by Legal Services for Maine Elders and/or any third party owner of such rights. You may not create framed links to these web pages without express written permission from Legal Services for Maine Elders.

This site applies to the State of Maine, United States of America. We make no representation that materials found at our site are appropriate or available for use in other locations. If you access our sites from other locations, you are responsible for compliance with local laws.

Links Disclaimer:

We provide links to other sites that we believe may be useful or informative. These links to third party sites or information are not intended as, and should not be interpreted by you as constituting or implying our endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation of the third party information, products or services found there. We do not maintain or control these sites and, accordingly, make no guarantee concerning the accuracy, reliability or currency of the information found there.

All information collected on this site is used only by Legal Services for Maine Elders, the nonprofit organization that hosts this site. We do not sell, give or trade information with third parties. This policy describes all the ways we currently use the information you give to us.

Modifications to this Policy

If we decide to change our data collection and use practices, we will first publish a new policy on this web page before modifying our practices. YOUR ONLY NOTICE OF CHANGES IN OUR DATA COLLECTION AND USE PRACTICES WILL BE BY READING THIS PRIVACY POLICY. Information you provide while the current policy is in effect will be treated as promised in the current policy. Thus any changes we make in the future will not affect you unless you submit additional information after the modifications. For this reason, we encourage you to read this policy again if in the future you submit additional information.

What Personal Information Do We Collect?

When you visit the public area of the Web site, you remain anonymous. To the extent you use e-mail links via the Web site to communicate with us and provide us with personally identifiable information, however, you will not remain anonymous. Because it is not possible to anticipate every conceivable context in which such information might be provided to us via e-mail, we can provide you no assurance that personally identifiable information you choose to provide to us via e-mail will be maintained as private.

We collect personally identifiable information from users who fill out forms on this site. We only collect information we need. All the information we collect is necessary for us to improve the delivery of information on this web site.

If you use the HelpMeLaw search engine to find legal information, we keep a log of the searches that are done. We do this so that we can know what people are looking for, and keep improving the way the search engine works. We do not keep any records of the county, age and income information people provide. We do not have any way to know who is making any particular search.

As you browse this site, Legal Services for Maine Elders and its web hosting service may collect hit data or other web statistics in order to monitor web site traffic patterns. We do not attempt to link web traffic patterns to personally identifiable information. We use all non-personally identifiable data that it collects internally and together with its Web site designer and host in order to improve the Web site. The information is used, for example, to evaluate what portions of the Web site are more popular than others, to determine from where visitors came to the site, and to determine how many times particular pages of the site were accessed in aggregate. Our personnel use the data to prepare reports regarding Web site activity as part of the process of maintaining and improving the site.

We urge everybody under the legal age of adult to avoid disclosing any information over the Internet that would allow someone to identify them personally, including without limitation, their name, phone number, address, or social security number.

The public Web site does not presently require registration to access any portion of the site. The private extranet area, which is not accessible to the public but only to those with appropriate authorizations including valid user IDs and passwords, requires completion of a registration process that includes basic information about you, such as name, address, e-mail address and the like. That information is accessible to our personnel involved in the transaction or matter for which the extranet area has been created and who have been authorized to access that area and, in some instances, to personnel of other legal services programs also involved in the transaction or matter for which the extranet area has been created and who also have been authorized to access that area. That information also is accessible to personnel of the third-party service provider that administers the extranet for the purpose of such administration.

Cookies

The Web site uses "cookies." Cookies are small text files that are placed on a visitor's computer hard drive that, among other things, allow an organization and/or the host of the organization's Web site to record how many times a user or computers within a user's network of computers has visited the Web site, the number of times various pages of the Web site have been accessed and other such information. You may disable receipt of cookies using features of your Web browser that disable or turn off cookies. Legal Services for Maine Elders does not use cookies to retrieve information that is unrelated to your visit to or your interaction with the site. Currently, the Web site uses cookies only to remember your login name if you are registered for the private extranet area of the Web site.

What Steps Do We Take to Protect Your Privacy?

We do not presently provide any personal information collected via its non-public extranet area to other companies, firms or individuals without the permission of those who provided the information. We do not presently collect personally identifiable information via the public area of its Web site except to the extent that such information is provided in unsolicited e-mails. Legal Services for Maine Elders and the host of its Web site take reasonable security precautions to maintain the privacy of the data that is collected such as ensuring that it is accessible only to appropriate personnel and that the information is user ID- and password-protected.

For all practical purpose, only attorneys or staff working for Legal Services for Maine Elders will have access to the information you submit through web forms or email. However, it is also possible that our Internet Service Provider (ISP) as well as your own ISP may access the information you submit over the Internet to us, although it is generally not the practice of ISPs to do so. Finally, although highly unlikely, computer hackers may be able to gain access to information you submit when its transmitted through the Internet or sitting on your server or our server.

BECAUSE WE CANNOT GUARANTEE THE PRIVACY OF INFORMATION YOU SUBMIT OVER THE INTERNET, No attorney-client relationship is created by sending us e-mail or using forms found on this site.

Links

This site provides links to other sites as a benefit to you. Legal Services for Maine Elders is not in control of the information collection and dissemination practices of the sites to which this site links, nor do we necessarily endorse such practices merely by providing links. We urge you to use discretion in providing personal information to the sites to which we link. Legal Services for Maine Elders urges you to review the privacy policies posted on these third party Web sites at the time you first visit such sites. We undertake no obligation to review or ensure enforcement or compliance with the privacy policy of any Web site to which the Web site links.

What about Children's Privacy?

Legal Services for Maine Elders does not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from any children under age 13.

Is Data Storage and Processing Conducted in the United States?

Regardless of where you are located, the Web site collects information and processes and stores that information in databases located in the United States.

Can We Revise this Privacy Policy?

Due to the rapidly evolving technologies on the Internet, we may occasionally update this privacy policy. All revisions will be posted to the Web site. We urge you to review its Privacy Policy frequently.

Contacting the Web Site

If you have any questions about this privacy statement, this sites information collection and use practices, or any dealings with this web site, please Contact Us.

Legal Services for Maine Elders presents the information on this web site as a service to low income and older people in Maine and other Internet users, including members of the general public. Use of this site does not constitute, in any manner, an attorney-client relationship between Legal Services for Maine Elders and the receiver. While the information on this site is about legal issues, it is not intended as legal advice or as a substitute for the particularized advice of your own counsel. People seeking specific legal advice or assistance should contact an attorney, either by using the site to locate legal assistance in your county, or another source. The content of any Internet e-mail sent to Legal Services for Maine Elders or any of its lawyers at the e-mail address set forth in this web site will not create an attorney-client relationship and will not be treated as confidential. Transmittal of information from this site or any use of electronic mail is not intended to create or establish an attorney-client relationship between Legal Services for Maine Elders and anyone else.

This publication is provided as is without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement.

This publication could include inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically added to the information herein; these changes will be incorporated into new editions to this publication.

Statements or expressions of opinion herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of Legal Services for Maine Elders, its staff or Board of Directors.

Links Disclaimer:

We provide links to other sites that we believe may be useful or informative. These links to third party sites or information are not intended as, and should not be interpreted by you as constituting or implying our endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation of the third party information, products or services found there. We do not maintain or control these sites and, accordingly, make no guarantee concerning the accuracy, reliability or currency of the information found there.

Some of the photos on our website are courtesy of the Center for Aging Better.