Tax Prep Leader H&R Block Launches Updated Suite of Powerful, At-Home Legal Products

KANSAS CITY, Mo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Billable hours beware. The line-up of legal solutions from H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) is about to make trips to the lawyer’s office and expensive hourly rates a thing of the past for people who want to save time and money handling critical business and personal legal documents from the comfort of home.

“H&R Block has relationships with clients that extend beyond tax preparation and into other areas that are critical in managing the overall financial picture for individuals and small businesses nationwide”

H&R Block, the nation’s largest tax preparer, today announced its 2008 line-up of legal solutions, available online and in retail stores, designed to help small business owners and individuals take charge of critical legal affairs, from contract writing to setting up wills and trusts.

This year’s product line-up is highlighted by new and improved features that cover a wide range of needs:

• Home & Business Attorney ($39.95) offers a complete legal software solution, with a new interface; more than 1,000 customizable legal forms for estate planning, business, real estate and home legal needs; built-in guidance to help with many common legal questions; and a range of other support tools, calculators, and reference materials.
• WILLPower® ($19.95) helps people create wills and trusts and manage estate planning and administration. It offers a new and easy step-by-step process, built-in help functions and critical reference materials to enable people to handle sensitive, often difficult documents and decisions at home.

“H&R Block has relationships with clients that extend beyond tax preparation and into other areas that are critical in managing the overall financial picture for individuals and small businesses nationwide,” said Jason Bass, product manager for Digital Tax Solutions at H&R Block. “Our 2008 legal products have been redesigned with an improved interface and additional guidance, help and online services. In combination with our H&R Block TaxCut® products, we are enabling a new generation of individuals and businesses to take charge of their finances, save money in the process, and have the confidence and control that allows them to sleep at night knowing they did it right and did it well.”

All of H&R Block’s legal products offer access to powerful online services by RocketLawyer.com that include electronic signatures, an online document editor, online document storage and document sharing. These services are free for 30 days. Customers can subscribe for a $7.95 monthly fee, or get even better value with a $79.95 annual subscription.

H&R Block produced its legal products in partnership with San Francisco-based Acendi Interactive, the leading developer of legal self-help technologies, including RocketLawyer.com. Charley Moore, CEO of Acendi Interactive, stated, “H&R Block’s decision to be the first to bring Web 2.0 legal document tools to desktop legal software consumers is something that we are extremely proud to support.” He continued, “Electronic legal document collaboration and filing will only become more commonplace in the future as the march toward an affordable, paperless legal system continues; and H&R Block stands at the forefront of the e-document trend, just as it has been at the forefront of the growth of electronic tax return filing over the past several years.”

About H&R Block Digital Tax Solutions

H&R Block Digital Tax Solutions develops and publishes consumer financial and personal productivity software and online programs for the leader in tax preparation and services. Titles include the H&R Block TaxCut family of software products — TaxCut Premium, Premium + State and Premium + State + E-File and TaxCut Home & Business — as well as TaxCut Online tax preparation programs — TaxCut Basic + E-File, TaxCut Premium + E-File and TaxCut Premium + State + E-File. In addition, H&R Block Digital Tax Solutions include H&R Block Signature and H&R Block Online Office. All TaxCut and H&R Block digital products and programs can be found at hrblock.com.

About H&R Block

H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE: HRB) is a diversified company with subsidiaries that deliver tax services and financial advice, investment and mortgage services, and business accounting and consulting services. The company’s mission is to help clients achieve their tax and financial objectives by serving as their tax and financial partner. Additional information is available on the company’s Web site at www.hrblock.com.

About Acendi Interactive

Acendi Interactive Company is the leading developer of legal self-help technology, including RocketLawyer.com™. As the only online legal document service that is fully integrated into a variety of CD-ROM legal self-help products, RocketLawyer.com uniquely gives desktop software consumers Web 2.0 legal document tools along with the convenience and trusted branding of their favorite desktop applications. Desktop software powered by RocketLawyer.com is available online and offline at most major retailers. Acendi Interactive is based in San Francisco, California. For more information about Acendi Interactive legal tools, please visit http://www.rocketlawyer.com.