[Powerofmene]

In some states the collection of the fee is not relevant. All that is relevant in these states is that you do or do not have a alicense to practice and that you were conducting work that is typically conducted by an attorney and you are providing legal advice. In some states just the act of typing a Motion for someone who is representing themselves in open court is practicing law without a license unless you have passed your bar exam. You can get in trouble for drafting a Motion for your spouse and vice versa unless you are an attorney representing your spouse.

Legal advice should be limited to someone who is an attorney. There are ways around that giving of advice, you can say, "if air were in that position I would do xyz." Or "when that happened to me my attorney said I should xyz."

Practicing law without a license is a crime albeit one not often prosecuted unless you are representing yourself as an attorney and in most cases that involves the transfer of monies for those legal services but not always.