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Major Updates Coming this Year
The major updates you can expect from us this year include:

• June for new legislation effective July 1, 2009,
• September for new legislation effective October 1, 2009, and
• December for new legislation effective January 1, 2010.

We expect that you will receive these updates from us via both CD and our WebUpdate process.

Future WebUpdates
WebUpdates enable us to provide you with changed forms almost as quickly as case law or agency changes outdate them. Our WebUpdate to you later this month will include:

• Real Estate - We're going to add the old HUD-1s back to this volume alongside the revised versions. We've received a tremendous amount of negative feedback about the new forms. HUD is very clear that the new versions we shipped last month are the current versions and the old version is now outdated. However, they are allowing the use of the old HUD-1 through the end of the year. So, unless HUD changes directions, the new versions will be mandatory for everyone January 1, 2010.
• Family Law - We're also adding four new Supreme Court forms - two Parenting Plans and two Supplemental Proceeding forms for persons in military service. And, we're revising other forms pursuant to the Florida Supreme Court update resulting from Senate Bill 2532 (passed in the 2008 Legislative Session) and incorporating the concepts of time-sharing and the parenting plan, along with other minor revisions.

Past WebUpdates
Here is a review of the WebUpdates we recently provided to you:

• Litigation - We updated the Motor Vehicle/Vessel Records Request in this volume pursuant to a change in the form by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. We also added a statutorily required arbitration clause to the fee agreements.
• Family Law - We updated the Motor Vehicle/Vessel Records Request in this volume pursuant to a change in the form by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. We also updated IRS form 8332 based on a change to the form by the IRS. Finally, we added a statutorily required arbitration clause to the fee agreements.
• Federal Criminal Defense - We updated 18 AO forms based on changes to those forms by the Federal Clerks' offices.
• Real Estate - We updated the look of the new ProDoc HUD-1 forms to make them easier to read. The cross-hatching on the newly redesigned HUD-1 interferes with the information that is entered. We also updated the riders to the FAR/BAR contract.
• Attorney-Client Matters - We added a statutorily required arbitration clause to the fee agreements.
• Certified Mailer Feature - We updated this feature so it will correctly calculate your certified mail rate when the USPS' new postage rates go into affect May 11.

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Since this update will rely heavily on the WebUpdate process we recommend that:

1. Each computer/server/laptop with a ProDoc installation should have Internet access. If all your computers are on a network, only the server needs access to the Internet for the WebUpdate.
2. You provide for high-speed Internet access. Some of our updates are quite large and a dial-up connection may be impractical. And, a dial-up connection requires that you establish your Internet connection before opening ProDoc in order for WebUpdate to work—easy to forget to do.

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Q: "Why is the HUD form in ProDoc so different now from the HUD form used by the Title Companies? We have a title company in our office and there has been no change to the HUD form."
A: The revised HUD-1s we recently shipped are the newly adopted HUD-1 forms. However, the old forms are acceptable through December 31, 2009. Due to customer demand, we are adding the old forms back into our real estate volume through December 31, 2009. So, you will have a choice. THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO SENT US YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS ISSUE (and many of you did— we listened)!

Q: "Also, the Good Faith Estimate that is now included in the most recently received HUD-1. We do not hand out this information at our closings and I would prefer not to use it at all. Once the new update comes can I discard it or remove it?"
A: The new HUD regulations require the title company to provide the borrower with the figures from the original Good Faith Estimate to compare with the final closing numbers. This requirement will be effective for all closings after December 31, 2009. It is optional until that time. Visit here for more information about the new HUD RESPA rules.

Q: "One of my three computers running ProDoc crashed recently. A second is slowly dying. How do I renew my subscription for the replacement computers for those two crashed computers?"
A: No need to renew your subscription for this purpose. Just get your new computers, install ProDoc on them, register the new ProDoc installations on those computers, and move any recoverable ProDoc data and/or completed documents to them. We alerted our Tech Support team to get in touch and assist you.

Q: "It would be wonderful if you could implement two things into SOS: 1) spell check on billing entries; and 2) the auto charge generation when you complete a document in pro doc only seems to allow you to bill for a flat charge – I would like to be able to enter a time charge."
A: Spell checking in SOS is a feature that is likely to receive strong consideration when we completely rewrite it. However, that is probably a few years off as it is a big undertaking.

Regarding question (2), you might want to consider using a flat fee for ProDoc generated docs. You will lose revenues if you bill by the hour for generating ProDoc documents since ProDoc makes the task so much faster. Many attorneys tell us that they originally calculate the value of a document by the time it requires them to draft it in the traditional manner. They then set that amount, or slightly less, as their flat fee rate for the document. It's simply a question of billing for your expertise or billing for your time. Many contend the document is worth the same to the client whether you draft it in 30 minutes or in four hours.

Q: "Why is it that ProDoc does not include a judgment collection series of form like the complaint and summons to be served on garnishees along with the necessary discovery in aid of execution? What you have on garnishment is so scant that it is not worth even using it."
A: The reason is that we have not been aware of the need for those forms until you spoke out. So, we are adding them to our list of future enhancements to consider. (We invite customers to submit copyright-free documents to us as a starting place - this would increase the likelihood of us including these forms and/or speed up the process.

Submit your ProDoc question(s) >>

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This is a heads-up for you to prepare for those changes.

• Upgrading your computer operating system - If you are using ProDoc on a Windows® 98, Windows® NT, or Windows® ME operating system, you will need to upgrade that by as early as June. We're releasing an enhancement to the ProDoc database that only runs on Windows® 2000, Windows® XP, or Window® Vista.
• Moving to broadband internet service - You should have high-speed Internet access. Some of our updates are quite large and a dial-up connection will probably require a very long time to download the update. A dial-up connection also requires that you establish your Internet connection before opening ProDoc in order for WebUpdate to work.

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View Revising Finished ProDoc Documents >>

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To prevent this from happening, simply install your ProDoc update today. If you cannot find the update CD, version 5.21, call Tech Support at 800-759-5418, option #3, IMMEDIATELY and request a new CD and/or KeyCode that you need to install ProDoc.

If you have opened ProDoc this month and you did not see a count down you can ignore this message.

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Read Whom Do You Trust? Beware of Gray Areas Regarding Trust Accounts >>

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Tech Tip: Inserting Clean Text from One Word Processor to Another
If you've ever copied text created in Microsoft® Word into a document created in Corel® WordPerfect, you know the mess it makes with all of the underlying code. To prevent this you can use little tricks like first copying the text into WordPad and copying and pasting the clean text into the WordPerfect document.

Or you can use a simple and free program like PureText 2.0 that enables you to paste clean text into any application.

Read more about PureText 2.0 >>

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Tech Tip: The Savings of VoIP with the Features of a Full Phone System
Jazinga combines the features of a high-end corporate telephone system with wireless networking and email at a fraction of the cost. Jazinga claims its product enables you to look like a bigger firm to the outside world with features such as automated attendant, company directory, individual voice mailboxes, voicemail to e-mail and the ability to integrate remote users. It handles up to 20 users.

Learn more about Jazinga >>

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Tech Tip: Migrating to a New Computer
No doubt about it, migrating from one computer to another is a huge undertaking... and probably is the reason most of us put it off as long as possible. However, the right software can help make the process easier and less time consuming and frustrating.

While there are many products available for this purpose, one we've recently heard of that received a good review is SoftRescue Pro. It is a $50 product but it does enable you to move files and software from your old machine to the new one practically hands-off after you show it what you want to move.

Learn more about SoftRescue Pro >>

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