Zoom

Zoom has become very popular of late. The schools are heavily invested in Zoom and Tennessee courts have recently adopted Zoom and WebEx exclusively. So we recommend using one of the two. They are very easy to use, but if you want to see a Zoom tutorial video, there's a good basic one on this page.
If you are new to this system, here's where you can sign up for a free account Sign up for your Free Zoom Account / App

Enter our Zoom Room

Whether you're an old hand, or just signed up with Zoom, please click the link above to go to our Zoom room.

FaceTime

FaceTime is exclusive to Apple® products. If you have an iMac, iPad, or iPhone, MacBook FaceTime software is already installed and ready to use. Apple has installed a camera, mic, speakers in your device. What are you waiting for? No downloads are required for Apple® products, we simply exchange our Apple ID's and we're ready to see, hear, and easily exchange files, documents, etc. Rememember your little MacMini - he'll need a camera and mic (see, there was a reason it was inexpensive).

The FaceTime contact is christina@burdette-law-tn.com See elsewhere on the page for more info. This ID is only on sporadically.

Teleconference

Easy to use, you can call from anywhere. Everyone knows how to use one. What you may not have thought of is group calling on the phone. Our VOIP phone network system allows us to patch in multiple people located in multiple states. This becomes very convenient for things like a family law matter when family members may not be familar with using high tech types of computer equipment, smart phones, et cetera.


We may call from (901) 756-6433 (901) 756-7878 (202) 996-7007 (901) 860-4382 outbound only - (901) 854-0385

Other meeting methods

The courts also use Webex, but clients rarely ask for it. It is superior for large meetings, but we do not hold large meetings. We do subscribe to Webex, so we can offer it if needed. Google Meet showed promise but has been made confusing by many changes - it's free, but unpopular. Teams tends to require a paid Office 365 subscription. Not everyone has that. We pay to use Zoom, and Webex, because the courts use it, and it is free for clients to use. FaceTime is already on your iPhone, so we use that, too. We've decided to avoid the systems that reqiure extra payments from users so as not to unduly burden clients.


For Webex please check - www.webex.com. Zoom is at www.zoom.com FaceTime is in your Apple phone or tablet or Macbook.

SMS - MMS Texting

We do not try to have conversations via SMS - but - it does connect when email is often filtered out by work addresses or by big tech web page based email. Our 100% human SMS is - (833) 270-8723 - this line runs directly into your file on our secure client portal. We also extensively use - (901) 756-7878 for SMS and MMS, but it does have an auto-response bot. Its special virtue is that it can send and receive reasonable sized pdf and doc files - the (833) number cannot.

Send documents like you would a photograph ( the photo icon ) to (901) 756-6433. Maximum size allowed for a single file is 2MB. No single message of multiple files can exceed 3.5MB - wait and send separate message later.


So remember - when files are getting firewalled / blocked - one workaround is sending doc's by texting to (901) 756-7878. You will get an auto responding bot, but it is more reliable than trying to exchange info from behind a corporate firewall in your office using your companies internet connection instead of your personal ISP.

Exchanging Documents

Legal work involves lots of paperwork. We have courier and USPS mail and fax, still, but they're generally cumbersome and expensive compared to using your phone or computer. Still - if it works best for you - our USPS and walk-in delivery point is - 5865 Ridgeway Center Pkwy #387 Memphis, TN 38120 - our fax number is (901) 620-0678. One of the main reasons we have a portal is to give you a safe, secure means to send and receive documents. Other paragraphs here speak to the types of files and the means of entering the portal. You'll see that we use email mainly as a way to notify you that documents are in your file on the portal, we do not use email to transmit documents.
The next question is what type of doc's to use, and how to handle them.

Document Format

Of all the formats - .pdf, .doc/.docx, .odt, .rtf, and .txt, the one most often used for forms and document storage by government is the Adobe .pdf. We have no wish to waste your time, so let's use .pdf from the start. Your browser probably reads pdf files, plus there is a more capable stand alone app available free of charge click here. In the app store / play store for your phone / tablet / computer there are usually bunches of other apps that allow you to edit and sign Adobe pdf documents.

It's difficult to sail against the wind, so we try to use this means, the pdf format. We're always willing to learn, though, so if you make a convincing case about the new, latest, greatest thing - and it's free to use - we'll listen. But remember, the courts seem to have standardized on .pdf files.

Scanning a document

You have a great camera on your Android or iPhone or Samsung Tablet or iPad. Why do you need to go somewhere to get a document scanned? Easy, just taking a picture of the document is generally not acceptable to courts. They want pages that are clean, aligned, and look like they just came out of a laser printer. There are bunches of apps in the Play Store and the App Store that can do a good job of making your mobile phone into a high class Xerox type machine. Try starting with Adobe Scan, and please do not try with .jpg or .jpeg pictures.

Completing Forms

You don't like it, neither do we. But governments insist on standardized forms for their record keeping.
So instead of this method of completing those forms:

- form / pen / mail - or this:

- fax / pen / fax - or this:

- print / pen / scan / upload -

We have done this:

- We converted most of our forms to Fillable PDF types.
We send you a link to the forms we have place in your file on our portal. You click, and open it, usually with your browser. You then type in your answers on the blue fields, then you save the file to your computer / phone storage, then you return a copy to our client portal.

This means you touch no printers, no pens, no scanners, no fax machines. It's much simpler, and far less frustrating. We have also developed an online form: click here to use it. We are a bit surprised, but more people use our fillable forms instead of the online version. They probably prefer the encrypted tunnel leading into the secure file storage protected by a dual factor credentials method the fillable form offers.

Fillable forms - On most devices and on most browsers

Click the notification you receive and the form will open in your browser. Type in your responses on the fields that are underlined or highlighted in blue.
Then press the download arrow you see at the upper right of the form. This saves your responses to your local storage space on your phone or computer.

Next send us a copy by clicking this link to upload your completed for to the portal. Use the 3 elipse icon or menu item 4 to reach the paper clip icon.

If you get a 'sad face' error message, then - click or touch the printer icon, next to the down arrow. Print to a pdf file on your local storage drive with a name you assign

Then upload a copy of the completed or printed .pdf you just saved back to your portal file by clicking this link. Use the same methods as above to upload.

That's it! You never touched a scanner, a printer, or any ink. You can do it all from your smart phone, tablet or computer!

Safari - On Mac's, iPad's, iPhones

For a Mac, the process is similar to other PC's - Click the notification you receive and the form will open in your Safari browser. Type in your responses on the fields that are underlined or highlighted in blue. Then on the Safari tool ribbon, click File then Export as PDF on the drop down menu. Save and return a copy to us.

On an iPhone or iPad, the process is much, simpler by first adding the free Adobe Acrobat. Next open the link in your Safari browser. Then open the file with your Adobe Acrobat. Touch the up arrow box you see at the bottom of the screen. Swipe sideways on the AirDrop line, until you see Acrobat logo - or - swipe the screen up and touch Import to Acrobat.

Complete the blue field questions (hint: a bluetooth keyboard makes things go much, much faster.) Then touch the three horizontal dots at right on the second menu ribbon from the top. First scroll down to save a copy. Then scroll back up to Send a copy at the top. Select your browser logo on the AirDrop line, then copy and pastethis address link into the address bar of your browser, then login and upload. You can also email a copy to a laptop or desktop.

That's it! You never touched a scanner, a printer, or any ink. You can do it all from your smart phone, tablet or computer!

alternate means

Fillable forms - Chrome browser alternate

If you are using a very early or a very, very recent version of Chrome the handling of PDF files may be different than it has been for the past seven years.
Change the settings on your very recent Chrome browser to use fillable PDF's by:

1). Type or copy/paste into the web address bar of your browser: chrome://settings/content/pdfDocuments

2). Toggle on the button to Download PDF files instead of Open PDF files automatically in Chrome as per the image. This is only a change in sequence, but it can be confusing when your Chrome, which has for years been displaying and then downloading PDF's suddenly wants to download instead of display PDF's.

Once you have changed the default behavior of Chrome, click on ours or any other .pdf document link and it downloads automatically. Once downloaded, open the pdf with the Adobe Acrobat Reader per the link in the PDF section above. ( This is a free download, and has the advantage of allowing you to sign documents on any computer. ) Once you have saved your responses, you have saved a copy for yourself. Now share a copy of the completed form with us by clicking this link.

Use the info on Two Factor ID, paperclips (menu item 4), the three dot bubble and firewalls -- all below, to aid in returning / uploading a copy of the document. That's it! You never touched a scanner, a printer, or any ink. You can do it all from your computer / tablet or smart phone! Only certain Chrome builds on certain machines operate as per above. MS Edge, Firefox and Safari operate in the manner described in the two other sections above.

There is also another section below on using pdf's with iPhones.

Signing Documents

Certain documents will required your signature. We know, you're thinking - darn, I'm back to using ink, paper, printers, scanners, and other such gizmos that you don't own and don't want to buy. Hold on. There are other ways, like these:

1. Sign a piece of paper, shoot a picture of it with your smart phone. Email the signature to your computer or keep it on your phone, give it a transparent background .png file with an image editor (even MS Paint in Windows might work. Then insert your image into the doc.

2. - Do the above steps in one unified app using the FREE Adobe Acrobat reader. Click here for the free Adobe signing software.

3. Use an online service such as PandaDoc: click here to try it using the 14 day FREE trial. See the video on this page for more info on painless methods to sign electronic documents.

Fill and Sign Documents

You've run into a document in pdf or on the web that you need to both fill out and sign. What to do? Adobe and others have your back.

Start with their Fill and Sign at the Playstore for Android Or on the App Store click for iPhone or iPad. While you are on the Play Store or App Store check out some of the other apps. There are lots that are highly rated, and may give you a longer 'trial period' than Adobe, and may do a better job at scanning. Remember - courts really want you to sign on a phone / tablet using a stylus, not your finger, and not a by using a script font to mimic a signature.

If you are limited to a desk/lap top device with no camera, try to get a photo of your signature, email it to yourself, then start with the fill and sign software as per above.

PDF Documents on an iPhone or iPad

The iOS machines are a bit different from normal computers or Android phones. This probably dates back to iPods and pirated music security, etc.

There are ways to do this filling and uploading on iOS using using Google or Azure cloud drives. The main point seems to be holding the pdf out of the reach of iOS itself, which suspects everything might be purloined music. The Adobe Acrobat app for iOS (linked above) accomplishes the task while running on your iOS machine, so let's try it this way.

If you watch the video from NZ you'll learn how to handle a pdf with a rented version of Acrobat on your iOS. It's a bit more complicated using the 7 day free trial, but the main point here is you're not going to mail the completed file, you're going to upload it. So click on the browser - Safari / Chrome / etc icon and not the email icon. Assuming Safari use - point your browser to our portal and enter. Click login at the top right, then on bottom left see a 'talk bubble' with 3 dots - click it. You're now inside your portal file. Click the plus arrow at bottom left - click Share document. Note the paper clip to add your recent .pdf file - click it - choose files -load your recent pdf file - blue check - click Open at top right - name the document in the second box, add a message if you like - press Send in blue the bar at bottom -- and you've done it!

Two Factor ID Login

When you enter our secure portal for the first time by clicking here. you will see a screen which has a section like image A on the upper right. Click or touch it to progress to the next screen, as shown in image B.


2). If you are using a device which has not stored your credentials, or if you are logging in the first time, you will see a page like image B. Enter your email address in the box. (we've generally found that things work faster using this sequence) and in 10 or 15 seconds you should receive a SMS text message on your phone. Simply enter the login code sent to your phone and you will be granted access to your file on the portal.



If there is some reason to change your email address or cell phone number, you can see this will change your login credentials. Please contact us and we will work closely with you to establish a way to change your portal login means while still preserving the identity and content of all your files.

Notarizing Documents

Certain documents need to be notarized, to prove to courts that they are legit. Is this another hurdle requiring thumb drives, trips to office stores, printing, an in person notary, scanning, et cetera? No, not at all.

1). We have notaries on staff, we can usually help you, but that will require a very high res copy or alternately some travel time. So... alternately -

2). There are a number of online notary services. We're familiar with Notarize because of its integration with Adobe Acrobat. Notarize is $25, operates from your phone, and it's open 24/7 - click here for more info. Plus, check NotaryLive click for more info There's also OneNotary click for more info. See the video on this page for a complete description of notarize.com.

Returning Doc's - Our Sandbox

When you have your document completed and ready to return, please return it to our portal by clicking here..

Do not try to send it as an attached email, it will be blocked. Enter the portal and click on menu item number 4 - 'Easily Exchange...' then click the paper clip icon to select the document you want to send from your hard drive.

We don't do it this way because we like to make things complicated. The simple reason is we want to protect yours and other clients' files from malware. So with item 4 / the paper clip entryway, they will sit for a while, isolated in our 'sandbox' and get poked, prodded and scanned for bugs and malware before they're allowed inside to the secured files box. This protects everybody's data.

Don't forget the clip

Because of our efforts to keep the client portal safe from malware, we created a small source of confusion.

You can simply send us a message on the portal -- or -- you can send a message with files attached to it. These are two different menu items.

When you upload a doc you need to click / touch the paper clip icon or field. This will open a window of the file explorer, or file finder, or however your operating system shows the files on your local storage. Select the file - the file name should appear in the paperclip field before you type in the title, the message, and so forth.

Safe and secure document uploads and returns to your file on our client portal

Here's how to safely and securely upload your documents through an encrypted tunnel to be placed in your personal file our our client portal. This method avoids interception and keeps your documents safe from malware - plus - saves you the time and hassle of driving, mail, or faxing. Click here to read the easy steps to take to upload to our portal.

Fighting the firewalls

Because of ransomware and malware attacks, a lot of corporations and other organizations block or heavily filter sending / receiving files from outside their internet server. This is understandable, but how can we work around it?

The first thing is to change to a web based email - yahoo / google / and so on plus use your personal ISP. Our second workaround involves using SMS - MMS texts to or from your cell devices. Our (901) 756-7878 number can send/receive smaller pdf and other files.

Also, if you change from a work to personal email, send us a text to tell us -- first -- because your original sign-in email is part of your security credentials.

Why the encrypted tunnel stuff?

The reason for our precautions with sandboxes, paper clips, firewalls and other stuff with silly names is because it keeps your information safe. You know if you have utility bills flowing through your email, they will sometimes tell you what date money is due, and how much is due.

Does that not prove they're reading your email at the big tech outfits? With our system, your personal info exchanges directly from your computer or phone to our secure portal and back.

Be careful what you write in email. Stay safe by writing your notes with personal information directly into your file on the portal. Then - no 'man-in-the-middle' has any chance to intercept or read anything about your life or finances.

Enter the portal anytime

Your files are always stored on the portal -- safe and secure. Login and check them any time you wish. We send you weekly case updates, but if you want to check on all your files any time, any day, you can directly view all files, here's how.

Download this pdf file for simple, easy to follow portal entry instructions..

You can easily reach the portal entry start point. Simply click here.

More security - padlocks

When you view our sites - theburdettelawfirm.com burdettelawfirm.com vcita.com et al, your browser will display a padlock. Click the padlock icon - it will inform you that your machine / browser has established a military grade encypted connection to our server.

That means any information exchanged between you and the portal will be very safe. We understand this padlock icon may soon change to a 'tuning fork' icon, or something similar, in some browsers. Please be assured that the encryption level is unchanged, it is simply Google fretting that they don't think people understand how hard they work to keep things safe....meanwhile creating mass confusion. Note the paddlock icon in the browser address bar..

Other means - fax machine

No, we don't mean the old clunky machines with the thermal paper. There are now tons of Android and iOS apps now that make your phone into a fax machine.

Watch the video here for some ideas. We think the safest way to go is with a service that has a minimal charge. The services that are free when you watch ads, or the free international services raise red flags about security for us - but you'll likely be safe with the gmail app described.

Don't forget USPS or hand delivery is always an alternative, but we've done a lot of homework to help make it a last resort for you. If it comes, to that, though, click to see our Ridgeway office address..

Other documents - info you may need

Basic Quesionnaire - info needed as a basis for many processes. click here.

Document Signing and Witnessing Sessions - our service to notarize and witness your signature. click here.

Making payments or partial payments. click here.

Videos and web pages on family law and divorce. click here.

Wills, trusts, and estate law videos and web pages. click here.

If you suspect blocks or filtering problems with your gmail - yahoo - comcast - bellsouth - etc. email. click here.

The most frequent stumbling block to doing all the above easily and quickly is when people have a paper document they want to turn into a computer document. We have listed the Adobe and some other apps above, but there may be better and newer versions of software that have become the best value. So check the Playstore for Android. Or on the App Store click for iPhone or iPad to see what else there might now be more popular or have higher ratings.

Remember there's always fax: (901) 620-0678

And there's always USPS: 5865 Ridgeway Center Pkwy #387 Memphis, TN 38120

And worst case: shoe leather, tire wear and gasoline used to get to the above address.

Remember this quick path to our portal entry. Simply click here.