I cannot tell you how many times someone tells me they learned something about the law on the internet. Don’t get me wrong, the internet is the greatest tool for learning ever invented. Your computer has access to more information than all of the world’s libraries put together. The problem, information does not equal knowledge.

Seeing parts of the law online does not mean that you know how it works and how to use it, any more than my reading online about auto repair, or medicine makes me a mechanic or a doctor. I have seen dozens of cases where someone filed papers, went into court, or made a key legal decision relying on information they had seen online that was not correct for their situation. The results were always bad, sometimes disastrous.

The bottom line is: If the stakes are high, do not rely on your computer as there won’t be anyone there helping you through the problems this will create.