Under the California Consumer Legal Funding Act, a funding contract requires a written acknowledgment from the attorney representing you on the claim. Without it the contract is not enforceable. There is no version of this where a funder in California advances money on a claim with no attorney on it — not for a higher price, not for a smaller amount, not as an exception.
Any company telling you otherwise on a California claim is describing a contract that would not hold up. This is general information, not legal advice.
Two reasons, and only one of them is about you.
The first is practical, and it is the funder's reason. Repayment comes out of a recovery. An unrepresented claimant negotiating alone against an insurance company is far less likely to produce one, and there is no trust account through which anything would be disbursed. The transaction has nothing to attach to.
The second is the reason the legislature wrote it down. A person who is injured, unrepresented, and short of money is exactly the person most easily talked into a bad contract. Requiring a lawyer to review it puts someone with a professional duty to you between you and the paperwork. That is a real protection, and it is worth more to you than the funding would be.
If your claim is worth funding, it is worth representation — and the order matters. Get the attorney, then ask about funding.
The Act prohibits a funding company from referring a consumer to a specific attorney or law firm, with a narrow carve-out for bar association referral services. So when we decline to hand you a name, that is the law working rather than us being unhelpful — and the reason for the rule is sound: a funder steering you to a particular firm is a funder with an interest in your case that is not yours.
Once an attorney is on your case, the conversation is a normal one. You will need the claim to be pending, your attorney handling it on contingency, and enough of a case for an advance to make sense against what it may recover — the full list of what we ask for is short. Approval, amount and timing always depend on the specifics.
If you are somewhere between — you have consulted someone but not signed, or your attorney just took the case last week — call us anyway. We can tell you what would be needed so nothing is a surprise later.
Requirements vary by state, and some states regulate consumer legal funding lightly or not at all. Our own requirement does not vary: we ask that you have an attorney handling the claim on contingency wherever you are. It is the single strongest predictor of whether a claim resolves well, and funding an unrepresented claimant is not a business we want.
We also do not fund where funding is prohibited. Tell us where your claim is when you call and we will tell you straight away whether we can help.
Why that stops the transaction, the usual reasons behind it, and what to ask next.
Read the answerWhat we actually require, and the things that do not disqualify you.
Check eligibilityThe criticism is real. What is true in it, and when funding is a bad idea.
An honest answerApply in about two minutes. We contact your attorney, review the case, and if you're approved you can have funds the same day. No credit check, no monthly payments, and if you lose, you owe us nothing.