PLEASE READ THESE TERMS OF USE CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS SITE.
By using the ChatLegal.co.za website (the “Site”) or any ChatLegal applications or application plug-ins (“Applications”), you agree to follow and be bound by these terms of use (the “Terms of Use”) and agree to comply with all applicable laws and regulations, including South African export and re-export control laws and regulations. In these Terms of Use, the words “you” and “your” refer to each customer, Site visitor, or Application user, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to ChatLegal.co.za and “Services” refers to all services provided by us.
It is your responsibility to review these Terms of Use periodically. If at any time you find these Terms of Use unacceptable or if you do not agree to these Terms of Use, please do not use this Site or any Applications. We may revise these Terms of Use at any time without notice to you. If you have any questions about these Terms of Use, please contact our Customer Care Center.
YOU AGREE THAT BY USING THE SITE, ANY APPLICATIONS, AND THE SERVICES YOU ARE AT LEAST 18 YEARS OF AGE AND YOU ARE LEGALLY ABLE TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT.
These Terms require the use of arbitration on an individual basis to resolve disputes, rather than jury trials or class actions, and also limit the remedies available to you in the event of a dispute.
Please also refer to the ChatLegal Terms of Service, Registered Agent Terms of Service, Supplemental Terms of Service for Subscriptions and Third-Party Services, Legal Plan Contract, and Privacy Policy, each of which is incorporated herein by reference.
ChatLegal.co.za provides an online legal portal to give visitors a general understanding of the law and to provide an automated software solution to individuals who choose to prepare their own legal documents. Customer need not download or even license ChatLegal software. ChatLegal hosts its software as a backend service for customers when they create their own documents. The Site includes general information on commonly encountered legal issues. The ChatLegal Services also include a review of your answers for completeness, spelling, and for internal consistency of names, addresses and the like. At no time do we review your answers for legal sufficiency, draw legal conclusions, provide legal advice, opinions or recommendations about your legal rights, remedies, defenses, options, selection of forms, or strategies, or apply the law to the facts of your particular situation. ChatLegal is not a law firm and may not perform services performed by an attorney. ChatLegal, its Services, and its forms or templates are not a substitute for the advice or services of an attorney.
ChatLegal strives to keep its legal documents accurate, current and up-to-date. However, because the law changes rapidly, ChatLegal cannot guarantee that all of the information on the Site or Applications is completely current. The law is different from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be subject to interpretation by different courts. The law is a personal matter, and no general information or legal tool like the kind ChatLegal provides can fit every circumstance. Furthermore, the legal information contained on the Site and Applications is not legal advice and is not guaranteed to be correct, complete or up-to-date. Therefore, if you need legal advice for your specific problem, or if your specific problem is too complex to be addressed by our tools, you should consult a licensed attorney in your area.
From time to time, ChatLegal may perform certain attorney access services and introduce our visitors to attorneys through various methods, including but not limited to (i) legal plans, (ii) third party attorney directory listings, and (iii) third party limited scope agreements. At no time is an attorney-client relationship fostered or created with ChatLegal through the performance of any such services.
This Site and Applications are not intended to create any attorney-client relationship, and your use of ChatLegal does not and will not create an attorney-client relationship between you and ChatLegal. Instead, you are and will be representing yourself in any legal matter you undertake through ChatLegal’s legal document service.
- Privacy Policy. ChatLegal respects your privacy and permits you to control the treatment of your personal information. A complete statement of ChatLegal’s current Privacy Policy can be found by clicking here. ChatLegal’s Privacy Policy is expressly incorporated into this Agreement by reference.
When you open an account to use or access certain portions of the Site, Applications, or the Services, you must provide complete and accurate information as requested on the registration form. You will also be asked to provide a user name and password. You are entirely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password. You may not use a third party’s account, user name or password at any time. You agree to notify ChatLegal immediately of any unauthorized use of your account, user name or password. ChatLegal shall not be liable for any losses you incur as a result of someone else’s use of your account or password, either with or without your knowledge. You may be held liable for any losses incurred by ChatLegal, our affiliates, officers, directors, employees, consultants, agents and representatives due to someone else’s use of your account or password.
In connection with the use of certain ChatLegal products or services, you may be asked to provide personal information in a questionnaire, application, form or similar document or service. This information will be protected pursuant to our Privacy Policy. In addition, you grant ChatLegal a worldwide, royalty-free, nonexclusive, and fully sublicensable license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, publish and translate this personal information solely for the purpose of enabling your use of the applicable service. You may revoke this license and terminate rights held by ChatLegal at any time by removing your personal information from the applicable service.
- Ownership. This Site and Applications are owned and operated by ChatLegal.co.za. All right, title and interest in and to the materials provided on this Site and Applications, including but not limited to information, documents, logos, graphics, sounds and images (the “Materials”) are owned either by ChatLegal or by our respective third party authors, developers or vendors (“Third Party Providers”). Except as otherwise expressly provided by ChatLegal, none of the Materials may be copied, reproduced, republished, downloaded, uploaded, posted, displayed, transmitted or distributed in any way and nothing on this Site or on any Applications shall be construed to confer any license under any of ChatLegal’s intellectual property rights, whether by estoppel, implication or otherwise. See the “Legal Contact Information” below if you have any questions about obtaining such licenses. ChatLegal does not sell, license, lease or otherwise provide any of the Materials other than those specifically identified as being provided by ChatLegal. Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved by ChatLegal.
- Limited Permission to Download. ChatLegal hereby grants you permission to download, view, copy and print the Materials on any single, stand-alone computer (or, for Application users, one copy of the Application on up to five devices affiliated with your account) solely for your personal, informational, non-commercial use provided that (i) where provided, the copyright and trademark notices appearing on any Materials not be altered or removed, (ii) the Materials are not used on any other website or in a networked computer environment and (iii) the Materials are not modified in any way, except for authorized editing of downloadable forms for personal use. This permission terminates automatically without notice if you breach any of the terms or conditions of these Terms of Use. On any such termination, you agree to immediately destroy any downloaded or printed Materials. Any unauthorized use of any Materials contained on this Site or Applications may violate copyright laws, trademark laws, laws of privacy and publicity, and communications regulations and statutes.
- Links to Third Party Sites. This Site and Applications may contain links to websites controlled by parties other than ChatLegal (each a “Third Party Site”). ChatLegal works with a number of partners and affiliates whose sites are linked with ChatLegal. ChatLegal may also provide links to other citations or resources with whom it is not affiliated. ChatLegal is not responsible for and does not endorse or accept any responsibility for the availability, contents, products, services, or use of any Third Party Site, any website accessed from a Third Party Site, or any changes or updates to such sites. ChatLegal makes no guarantees about the content or quality of the products or services provided by such sites. ChatLegal is not responsible for webcasting or any other form of transmission received from any Third Party Site. ChatLegal is providing these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by ChatLegal of the Third Party Site, nor does it imply that ChatLegal sponsors, is affiliated or associated with, guarantees, or is legally authorized to use any trade name, registered trademark, logo, legal or official seal, or copyrighted symbol that may be reflected in the links. You acknowledge that you bear all risks associated with access to and use of content provided on a Third Party Site and agree that ChatLegal is not responsible for any loss or damage of any sort you may incur from dealing with a third party. You should contact the site administrator for the applicable Third Party Site if you have any concerns regarding such links or the content located on any such Third Party Site.
- Use of ChatLegal Legal Forms. On our Site, through our Applications, and through certain partners, we offer self-help “fill in the blank” forms. If you buy a form from one of our partners, you will be directed to that partner’s website and their terms of use will control. If you buy or download a form on our Site or Application, the terms and conditions of these Terms of Use control. You understand that your purchase, download, and/or use of a form document is neither legal advice nor the practice of law, and that each form and any applicable instructions or guidance is not customized to your particular needs.
- License to Use.
- ChatLegal grants you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use our forms (the “Forms”) for your own personal, internal business use, or if you are an attorney or professional, for your client. Except as otherwise provided, you acknowledge and agree that you have no right to modify, edit, copy, reproduce, create derivative works of, reverse engineer, alter, enhance or in any way exploit any of the Forms in any manner, except for modifications in filling out the Forms for your authorized use. You shall not remove any copyright notice from any Form.
- Resale of Forms Prohibited.
- By ordering or downloading Forms, you agree that the Forms you purchase or download may only be used by you for your personal or business use or used by you in connection with your client and may not be sold or redistributed without the express written consent of ChatLegal.co.za.
- Additional Terms. Some ChatLegal Services may be subject to additional posted guidelines, rules, or terms of service (“Additional Terms”) and your use of such Services will be conditioned on your agreement to the Additional Terms. If there is any conflict between these Terms of Use and the Additional Terms, the Additional Terms will control for that Service, unless the Additional Terms expressly state that these Terms of Use will control.
- Reviews, Comments, Communications, and Other Content. At various locations on the Site or through Applications, ChatLegal may permit visitors to post ratings, reviews, comments, questions, answers, and other content (the “User Content”). Contributions to, access to and use of the User Content are subject to this paragraph and the other terms and conditions of these Terms of Use.
- Rights and Responsibilities of ChatLegal.
- ChatLegal is not the publisher or author of the User Content. ChatLegal takes no responsibility and assumes no liability for any content posted by you or any third party.
- Although we cannot make an absolute guarantee of system security, ChatLegal takes reasonable steps to maintain security. If you have reason to believe system security has been breached, contact us by email for help.
- If ChatLegal’s technical staff finds that files or processes belonging to a member pose a threat to the proper technical operation of the system or to the security of other members, ChatLegal reserves the right to delete those files or to stop those processes. If the ChatLegal technical staff suspects a user name is being used by someone who is not authorized by the proper user, ChatLegal may temporarily disable that user’s access in order to preserve system security. In all such cases, ChatLegal will contact the member as soon as feasible.
- ChatLegal has the right (but not the obligation), in our sole and absolute discretion, to edit, redact, remove, re-categorize to a more appropriate location, or otherwise change any User Content.
- Rights and Responsibilities of ChatLegal Users or Other Posters of User Content.
- You are legally and ethically responsible for any User Content – writings, files, pictures or any other work – that you post or transmit using any ChatLegal service that allows interaction or dissemination of information. In posting User Content, you agree that you will not submit any content:
- that is known by you to be false, inaccurate or misleading; that infringes anyone’s copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other proprietary rights or rights of publicity or privacy. Please see Compliance with Intellectual Property Laws below; that violates any law, statute, ordinance, or regulation (including, but not limited to, those governing export control, consumer protection, unfair competition, antidiscrimination, or false advertising). Please see Compliance with Export Restrictions below; that is, or may reasonably be considered to be, defamatory, libelous, hateful, racially or religiously biased or offensive, unlawfully threatening or unlawfully harassing, or advocates or encourages illegal conduct harmful to any individual, partnership or corporation. Please see Inappropriate Content below; that includes advertisements, spam, or content for which you were compensated or granted any consideration by any third party; that includes information that references other websites, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, or other contact information; that contains any computer virus, worms, or other potentially damaging computer programs or files; that otherwise violates these Terms of Use. Attorneys that submit User Content and provide advice do so at their own risk.
- Under South African law, you retain copyright on all works you create and post as User Content, unless you choose specifically to renounce it. In posting a work as User Content, you authorize other members who have access to that service to make personal and customary use of the work, including creating links or reposting, but not otherwise to reproduce or disseminate it unless you give permission for such dissemination.
- You grant ChatLegal a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, transferable right and license to use, copy, modify, delete in its entirety, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, sell, distribute, and/or incorporate such content into any form, medium, or technology throughout the world without compensation to you. You have the right to remove any of your works from User Content at any time.
- You are not required to provide your real name when signing up as a user of ChatLegal. ChatLegal permits anonymous or pseudonymous accounts. Any user may request that such member’s email address be hidden to provide for additional privacy.
- Ratings and reviews will generally be posted in two to four business days.
- By submitting your email address in connection with your rating and review, you agree that ChatLegal may use your email address to contact you about the status of your review and other administrative purposes.
- NO WARRANTY. THE SITE, APPLICATIONS, AND ALL MATERIALS, DOCUMENTS OR FORMS PROVIDED ON OR THROUGH YOUR USE OF THE SITE OR APPLICATIONS ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, CHATLEGAL EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.
- CHATLEGAL MAKES NO WARRANTY THAT: (A) THE SITE, APPLICATIONS, OR THE MATERIALS WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS; (B) THE SITE, APPLICATIONS, OR THE MATERIALS WILL BE AVAILABLE ON AN UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE OR ERROR-FREE BASIS; (C) THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE SITE, APPLICATIONS, OR ANY MATERIALS OFFERED THROUGH THE SITE OR APPLICATIONS, WILL BE ACCURATE OR RELIABLE; OR (D) THE QUALITY OF ANY PRODUCTS, SERVICES, INFORMATION OR OTHER MATERIAL PURCHASED OR OBTAINED BY YOU THROUGH THE SITE, APPLICATIONS, OR IN RELIANCE ON THE MATERIALS WILL MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS.
- OBTAINING ANY MATERIALS THROUGH THE USE OF THE SITE OR APPLICATIONS IS DONE AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND AT YOUR OWN RISK. CHATLEGAL SHALL HAVE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OF ANY CONTENT, MATERIALS, INFORMATION OR SOFTWARE.
- NOTWITHSTANDING THE ABOVE, CHATLEGAL OFFERS A 60 DAY SATISFACTION GUARANTEE, THE TERMS OF WHICH ARE AVAILABLE HERE. THIS DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY DOES NOT APPLY TO THE PURCHASE OF PRODUCTS OR SERVICES BY SOUTH AFRICAN CONSUMERS.
- LIMITATION OF LIABILITY AND INDEMNITY. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL CHATLEGAL, ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, AND ALL THIRD PARTY SERVICE PROVIDERS, BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING ANY THAT MAY RESULT FROM (A) THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, OR CONTENT OF THIS SITE, (B) THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, OR CONTENT OF ANY SITES LINKED (THROUGH HYPERLINKS, BANNER ADVERTISING OR OTHERWISE) TO THIS SITE, (C) THE SERVICES FOUND AT THIS SITE OR ANY SITES LINKED (THROUGH HYPERLINKS, BANNER ADVERTISING OR OTHERWISE) TO THIS SITE, (D) PERSONAL INJURY OR PROPERTY DAMAGE OF ANY NATURE WHATSOEVER, (E) THIRD-PARTY CONDUCT OF ANY NATURE WHATSOEVER, (F) ANY UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR USE OF OUR SERVERS AND/OR ANY AND ALL CONTENT, PERSONAL INFORMATION, FINANCIAL INFORMATION OR OTHER INFORMATION AND DATA STORED THEREIN, (G) ANY INTERRUPTION OR CESSATION OF SERVICES TO OR FROM THIS SITE OR ANY SITES LINKED (THROUGH HYPERLINKS, BANNER ADVERTISING OR OTHERWISE) TO THIS SITE, (H) ANY VIRUSES, WORMS, BUGS, TROJAN HORSES, OR THE LIKE, WHICH MAY BE TRANSMITTED TO OR FROM THIS SITE OR ANY SITES LINKED (THROUGH HYPERLINKS, BANNER ADVERTISING OR OTHERWISE) TO THIS SITE, (I) ANY USER CONTENT OR CONTENT THAT IS DEFAMATORY, HARASSING, ABUSIVE, HARMFUL TO MINORS OR ANY PROTECTED CLASS, PORNOGRAPHIC, “X-RATED”, OBSCENE OR OTHERWISE OBJECTIONABLE, AND/OR (J) ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND INCURRED AS A RESULT OF YOUR USE OF THIS SITE OR THE SERVICES FOUND AT THIS SITE, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL OR EQUITABLE THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT CHATLEGAL IS ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
- IN ADDITION, YOU SPECIFICALLY ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT ANY CAUSE OF ACTION ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THIS SITE OR THE SERVICES FOUND AT THIS SITE MUST BE COMMENCED WITHIN ONE (1) YEAR AFTER THE CAUSE OF ACTION ACCRUES, OTHERWISE SUCH CAUSE OF ACTION SHALL BE PERMANENTLY BARRED.
- IN ADDITION, YOU SPECIFICALLY ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT IN NO EVENT SHALL CHATLEGAL’S TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY EXCEED THE TOTAL AMOUNT PAID BY YOU FOR THE PARTICULAR SERVICES THAT ARE THE SUBJECT OF THE CAUSE OF ACTION.
- THE FOREGOING LIMITATION OF LIABILITY SHALL APPLY TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW AND SHALL SURVIVE ANY TERMINATION OR EXPIRATION OF THIS AGREEMENT OR YOUR USE OF THIS SITE OR THE SERVICES FOUND AT THIS SITE.
- INDEMNITY. You agree to protect, defend, indemnify and hold harmless ChatLegal and its officers, directors, employees, agents, and third party service providers from and against any and all claims, demands, costs, expenses, losses, liabilities, and damages of every kind and nature (including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys’ fees) imposed upon or incurred by ChatLegal directly or indirectly arising from (a) your use of and access to this Site or the Services found at this Site; Contact Information. If you have any questions, concerns, or feedback regarding these Terms and Conditions or the Site and Services, please contact us at:
- ChatLegal Email: support@chatlegal.co.za
- Your communication with us is important, and we will make every effort to address your concerns or inquiries in a timely and effective manner.
- By using our Site and Services, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions. If you do not agree to these Terms and Conditions, you must not use our Site or Services. We reserve the right to modify or update these Terms and Conditions at any time, and your continued use of the Site and Services signifies your acceptance of any such changes. It is your responsibility to review the Terms and Conditions periodically to stay informed of any updates or changes.
- These Terms and Conditions, along with our Privacy Policy and any other legal notices published on our Site, constitute the entire agreement between you and ChatLegal. If any provision of these Terms and Conditions is found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision shall be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that the Terms and Conditions shall remain in full force and effect and enforceable.
- We value your trust in us and appreciate your business. We are committed to providing you with the highest quality legal services, and we will continue to work diligently to meet your needs and exceed your expectations.
- Thank you for choosing ChatLegal.