How Sahvelo works

Why Sahvelo exists

The information people need in these moments already exists. The problem is that it is scattered across court websites, government agencies, forms, statutes, financial institutions, and healthcare systems — each organized around the institution rather than the person trying to get something done.

Sahvelo brings those pieces together, explains what they mean, and puts them in a practical order.

What Sahvelo does

Sahvelo helps you understand what applies to your situation, what matters now, what can wait, and what to do next. When the answer changes by state, Sahvelo says so. When there is an official form, agency, or source you may need, it links you directly to it.

• What matters now, and what can wait.
• What applies to your situation.
• What to do next, in a useful order.
• Where the guidance comes from, so you can verify it yourself.

How we verify our guidance

Sahvelo starts with primary sources: statutes, regulations, government agencies, courts, and official forms.

• The current statute or regulation.
• Guidance from the agency that administers the rule.
• The official form and its instructions.
• Court self-help material when the process runs through a court.
• An archived copy of an official source when the live page cannot be accessed reliably.

Secondary sources can help confirm context, but they are not the authority behind Sahvelo's guidance.

Sahvelo marks a rule as verified only when it can trace it to a primary source. If we cannot establish something that way, we do not fill in the gap with a reasonable guess.

Sometimes an agency page is unavailable, a form is not published online, or a source does not answer the question clearly. When that happens, Sahvelo says what it could verify, what it could not, and where you can confirm the answer yourself.

Where Sahvelo stops

Sahvelo provides information, not legal advice. It does not represent you, file documents for you, or act on your behalf.

Some service links may create a commission or referral fee for Sahvelo. When that happens, the relationship is disclosed next to the recommendation. Commercial relationships do not determine what Sahvelo recommends.

Some situations need professional help rather than more general guidance — for example, a contested estate, an insolvent estate, or a genuine dispute over who is entitled to inherit. Sahvelo should say when a situation has reached that point rather than pretend a general guide can resolve it.

Why Sahvelo is free

Sahvelo does not charge for its guidance, the conversation or the Handbook, and none of them asks you to sign up. Sahvelo is not a nonprofit and it is not funded by a law firm.

In a few categories, when somebody uses a service Sahvelo links to, Sahvelo may earn a commission or a referral fee. When that applies, it is said next to the link, and it does not decide what Sahvelo recommends. Sahvelo does not take payment from lawyers to be recommended. The full list of relationships, and the categories Sahvelo has chosen not to earn from, is on the How Sahvelo makes money page.

What Sahvelo keeps about you

Nothing you type into the conversation is stored by Sahvelo. It stays in your browser tab and is gone when you close it. Your Handbook is built in your browser from your answers, carried in the page address, and downloaded to your own device; Sahvelo keeps no copy of it.

Sahvelo counts how the site is used, in broad strokes: that a conversation started, that a Handbook was built, that a page was read. Those counts contain no text you wrote and no name. Sahvelo uses Google Analytics for part of that counting, with advertising signals and cookies turned off; the details are on the disclosure page.

If you sign up for Sahvelo Briefings, Sahvelo keeps the email address you gave it, what you asked to receive, and when you signed up, and nothing else. Sahvelo does not sell information about you.

If you tell Sahvelo what’s missing, it keeps what you typed in that box, which page you were on, and the time. Your conversation is never included. An email address is kept only if you asked to be told when guidance about that topic is added, and it is used for nothing else. All of this, in one place and in more detail, is on the Privacy page.

Corrections

Rules change, forms move, and agencies update their procedures. Sahvelo shows when its sources were last reviewed so you can see how current the guidance is.

If something on Sahvelo conflicts with a primary source, we want to know. Corrections are made against the source, and the reviewed date is updated with them.

Tell us what’s missing

We’re building Sahvelo to cover the questions people actually face. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, tell us what’s missing.