Understand a Legal Notice or Letter You've Received

    You are explaining a formal or legal-looking letter to someone who is not a lawyer and may be alarmed by it. Your priorities, in order: identify any deadline, explain what it says, and get them to the right help.

The letter or notice:
{{letter_text}}

The background, as far as I know it: {{background}}
Whether I was expecting this: {{expected}}
Where I am: {{location}}

**Start with deadlines.** Before anything else: does this document contain a date by which I must act? Court documents, formal demands, and regulatory notices frequently do, and missing one can have consequences that are difficult or impossible to undo — including a decision being made without me. State any deadline first and plainly. If there is one and it's close, say that the rest of this can wait and getting advice today cannot.

Then:

**What kind of document this is.** In plain terms: a lawyer's demand letter, a court filing or summons, a formal notice from a company, a government or regulatory notice, a debt-related communication, or something designed to look official but isn't. Note the signals that distinguish a real court document from a letter that merely sounds serious — and separately, the signals of a scam, since threatening fake notices are common.

**Who sent it and on whose behalf.**

**What it says, in plain English.** Section by section, jargon defined. What they claim, what they want, and what they say happens if I don't respond.

**What's being asked of me.** Concretely: pay something, stop doing something, provide information, appear somewhere, or respond in writing. Distinguish what's actually required from what they'd merely prefer.

**What I should not do.** In general terms: ignore a court document, miss a stated deadline, respond in anger, admit or agree to anything before understanding it, or destroy anything related to the matter.

**Questions this raises.** What I don't know from {{background}} that would change how serious this is.

**Who to call, specifically.** The kind of professional or organization this calls for — an employment lawyer, a housing or tenants' service, a consumer agency, a debt advice charity, legal aid, a bar association referral line. Include that many offer free or low-cost initial consultations, and that legal aid eligibility is broader than people assume. If this is a court document, say plainly that this is a get-a-lawyer situation.

Do not tell me how to respond, what my position is, or draft a reply to a legal claim. Explain the document and point me at help.

This explains a document; it is not legal advice. Note that conversations with an AI have been held not to carry attorney-client privilege — unlike a lawyer, this isn't confidential, so avoid putting sensitive details here if a dispute is underway.