The most frequent enquiry pardon lawyers are asked is probably: Why must I pay an agency to request for a pardon for me when I can do it myself? To be completely honest, there are pros and cons associated with any alternative, and the choice is eventually a personal one. Initially, it is possible to apply for a pardon by yourself. Forms are obtainable via the National Parole Board, selected court houses, and selected police stations. You do not require an attorney, and you will not be required to appear before a judge in order to obtain your pardon. Having said that, asking for a pardon is not merely a matter of selecting several check boxes and affixing your signature on the signature line. In order to answer the paperwork, you will need to make a significant amount of groundwork and will have to transact personally with numerous government offices including the RCMP, courts, police and, most likely, the National Archives.
You need to also keep in mind that asking for a pardon is extremely a step-by-step, progressive process - you must finish step A before advancing on to step B, etc... Some forms also expire after an indicated period of time, meaning that, due to lack of experience, people often jump the gun and complete certain steps too early, which allows the paperwork to expire, which means that they need to begin all over again from square one. An agency that specializes in pardons is obviously adept with the process and will not commit this particular mistake. Furthermore, because of experience within the field, a knowledgeable pardon service may be able to shave months off of the process which is, to be absolutely honest, a long one. In particular exceptional situations, it is possible to jump the gun and finish certain phases ahead of schedule. A service will be able to ascertain if and when this is applicable or even possible.
Lastly, one extremely frequently held misunderstanding is that submitting an application for a pardon on your own is free of charge. It is not. Just forwarding the application to the Parole Board for assessment costs $50. Apart from that, there are charges connected with almost every step of the process. You can expect to pay anywhere from $25-$50 for fingerprinting and another $25 to have your prints authenticated by the RCMP. Requesting court information often carries costs as well. In the city of Calgary, for example, court records cost $20 for every conviction. If someone has 3 or 4 charges on their record, you can observe how this could quickly add up. Lastly, there may be charges for local police records checks. These vary from $0- $80. Assuming this perspective, you will see that the payments imposed by a pardon firm may not really be so exorbitant.
