Dear friends and clients:
I hope this letter finds you feeling well. I am writing to you today to let you know that during these unusual and trying times, our office is open and we are ready to help.
For those who are social distancing, self-quarantined, or subject to “stay at home” orders, we are happy to provide our services by phone, internet, video chat, mail, email, or other means that do not require “in person” meetings; you do not need to travel to our office.
In many instances we can handle your entire case without you leaving your home. As for hiring us, we can send you documentation by mail or email. As for payment, we can accept a check or credit card over the phone, or through our website, or you can mail us a check. For those that prefer, you can still drop off or make payment at our office.
Additionally, the State of Missouri recently has temporarily allowed video notarization and witnessing. Therefore, under certain circumstances you can now sign legal documents, including Wills, Trusts, Powers of Attorney, or other legal documents, without ever having to leave your home.
In addition to video signing and notary sessions, we also offer several other alternatives for signing legal documents:
- Curbside Signings: Drive up to our curb, remain in your car, and we will hand you a clipboard for you to sign, and our notaries and witnesses watch from outside your car
- Outdoor Signings at Our Office: We have a table outside at which you can sign, and we will notarize and/or witness your documents
- Outdoor Signings at Your Home: We can hand you a clipboard watch you sign through your front door or window, or we set up a card table in your driveway or yard and watch you sign. Then we witness and/or notarize your documents.
- Traditional Signing: Sign inside our office, as per normal, we are open.
As for those clients who would like to meet in person at our offices, as per normal, please note we are open Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., we are sanitizing regularly, and our waiting times are short. Additionally, have taken the following precautions:
- By Appointment: We are only allowing visitors by appointment, and may ask health screening questions to new arrivals.
- Hand Washing: We are all washing our hands very regularly during the day.
- Sanitation: We are continuously sanitizing our door handles, tables, desks, restrooms, surfaces, lobby, and waiting area.
- Non- Contact Greetings: We have temporarily suspended hand shaking in favor of other forms of greeting.
- Hand Sanitizer: We have plenty of hand sanitizer in our lobby, conference areas, and all offices; both staff and clients are encouraged to use it as needed.
- Lobby and Waiting Area: We have removed all reading materials from our lobby and are sanitizing it regularly.
- Air Flow and Filtering: We plan to open windows and create air flow as weather permits; otherwise we have installed high efficiency air filters capable of filtering viruses and micro bacteria, and plan to run our system continuously.
- Short Waiting Times in Common Areas: We are using our best efforts to escort clients from our lobby to their final meeting areas as soon as possible after arrival, in an effort to have as few clients as possible in our lobby at one time.
- Stay Home if You Don’t Feel Well: We have encouraged any employees (and clients) who don’t feel well to stay home.
- Consider Remote Legal Services: We are encouraging our clients to consider our many options for remote legal services – by phone, video, internet, email, or mail. We usually prefer “in person” consultations, but our top priority is the health, safety, and comfort of our clients, who we want to be familiar with the many options we offer; please see above for more details.
Lastly, we realize that Covid-19 has generated many new legal concerns, as well as financial difficulty, for many families and businesses. We are all in this together, and want to help.
Therefore, if you are a new client or have a new legal matter, and you been financially burdened by this pandemic, please mention this prior to hiring our firm, and we are willing to consider a reduction of our hourly rate, flat fee, or hourly deposit; or consider special payment plans (all on a case by case basis). Please call us for details.
Additionally, if you are a first responder or health care worker, and are a new client or have a new legal matter, please let us know prior to hiring our firm and we are happy to offer the same financial options described above.
I appreciate your time. If you need any assistance, call us at (417) 882-5858 or visit us at www.OzarksLawFirm.com today. We are here to help, and would love to provide you and your family with some additional peace of mind during these uncertain times.
Sincerely,
Joseph J. Piatchek, Managing Attorney
