Leaving Martindale-Avvo: the 60% fee, the form and your domain
Martindale-Hubbell's terms have carried the same early-cancellation fee since 2015. Since August 2024 they've also required a cancellation form that isn't published anywhere. We read every archived version of the Martindale-Hubbell, Avvo and Internet Brands terms since 2015, and what firms have told the BBB.
What does leaving Martindale-Avvo early cost?
Enter your order date, your first term and your monthly fee. Inside the first term, leaving takes 60 days' notice and a fee of 60% of what's left. After it, 30 days' notice ends the month to month.
- First term
- Month to month
- Notice deadline
- Service ends
Sources: Martindale-Hubbell, Terms & Conditions of Use, last revised Aug 23, 2024, §3.2–3.5 (read Oct 29, 2026). The fee's wording is the same in every archived version since Sep 15, 2015. Avvo website orders also follow Internet Brands' Supplemental Legal Terms (updated Feb 23, 2026). An estimate, not legal advice: your order governs.
Who keeps what when you leave Martindale-Avvo
From Martindale-Hubbell's product terms and Internet Brands' terms for Avvo websites, as they read on October 29, 2026.
- 3 come with you
- 4 to check first
- 4 stay behind
| What | When you leave | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Your domain name | Ask before your end date | Registered for you as owner. For some products, ask within 30 days of the end date or it can lapse or point at your Martindale profile. Avvo's terms keep it yours "if requested".Product terms, 2024 · IB terms, 2026 |
| Text, photos and logo you supplied | Comes with you | You keep ownership. Martindale-Hubbell keeps a license to use them that outlasts the contract.Terms §6.1, §8 |
| Your content, as a file | A data file | On cancellation you get a data file to import your content elsewhere, "but not design, code, or the website as a whole."IB terms, 2026 |
| Pages Martindale wrote | Ask in writing | The terms keep all content other than yours for Martindale-Hubbell, and its starter content is used on other sites too. Ask which pages you can take.Terms §8 · Product terms |
| Design and templates | Stays behind | "Website templates and infrastructure are proprietary," and belong solely to Martindale-Hubbell.IB terms, since Mar 2023 |
| Code and hosting | Can be deleted | Your right to use the site ends at termination, and Martindale-Hubbell may delete it from its servers. Avvo gives other hosts no access to take a site over.Terms §3.4, §13 · IB terms |
| Call-tracking number | Stays behind | Martindale-Hubbell chooses it, and no document lets you take it. List every place it's printed or listed.Product terms · BBB, Feb 2024 |
| Reviews page | Ends with the site | Directory reviews stay on your Martindale, Avvo and Lawyers.com profiles. Google reviews stay on your Business Profile.Product terms |
| Google Business Profile | Make your firm Primary Owner | Martindale-Hubbell gets manager access for reviews, and some products let it claim and manage local profiles. Make your firm Primary Owner, then remove Martindale.Product terms · IB terms |
| Analytics and Search Console | Ask to be made owner | Martindale sets them up for the firm, but no document says who owns them. Ask to be made owner before you leave.IB terms, 2026 |
| Your directory profile | Sold separately | ProVantage is its own subscription, so you can keep it. The terms list website customers' profiles ahead of others'.Product terms (Professional Profile) |
Sources: Martindale-Hubbell, Terms & Conditions of Use (last revised Aug 23, 2024) and Terms & Conditions for Specific Products (Aug 29, 2024); Internet Brands, Supplemental Legal Terms (updated Feb 23, 2026); Avvo's BBB file (read Oct 29, 2026). Links at the end of this page.
What changed in the fine print, and what didn't
The 60% fee hasn't moved in a decade. Around it, Avvo dropped a month-to-month promise, the templates became "proprietary", and closing an account started to need a form.
- Sep 2015 – today
60%, word for word
Leaving during the first term has cost 60 days' notice and 60% of what's left in every archived version of Martindale-Hubbell's product terms since September 2015.
- Jun – Aug 2018
"Month-to-month thereafter" disappears
Avvo's websites page promised month to month after the first year until June 2018. By August, months after Internet Brands bought Avvo, only the 12-month commitment was left.
- Mar 2023
Templates become "proprietary"
When Avvo's terms moved into Internet Brands' terms, they said templates belong solely to Martindale-Hubbell, and a departing firm gets a data file, not the design.
- Aug 2024
A form to cancel
Martindale-Hubbell (Aug 23) and Avvo (Aug 28) added a cancellation form from the Support/Retention Department to the steps for closing an account. Neither form is published.
What Martindale-Avvo has published about the price
Avvo once listed its website price. Martindale-Avvo listed a starting price for its website bundle until late 2025. Today websites are priced on request, and only the directory profile has a public price.
- Avvo Websites, 2016–2018Avvo's pricing page$99/mo
- Avvo Websites, Dec 2018Avvo's pricing page$200/mo
- Website bundle, 2024–2025"Starting at", Martindale-Avvo pricing$399/mo
- Websites todaySince mid-2026On request
- ProVantage profile todayFor the first user$399/mo
Sources: Avvo, pricing for lawyers (archived Dec 26, 2016 and Dec 21, 2018); Martindale-Avvo, pricing (archived Dec 19, 2025 and Jun 27, 2026; read Oct 29, 2026); Internet Brands, Supplemental Legal Terms, §VIII.c.viii (updated Feb 23, 2026).
Ask for the form before you give notice
Notice counts from when it arrives, and closing an account takes a form you have to request. Start with the form.
- Day 1
Ask for the form and your dates
Send the request on this page. It asks for the cancellation form, your first term's end date and your monthly fees.
- The same week
Put your accounts in your firm's name
Make your firm Primary Owner of your Google Business Profile, and owner of the Analytics and Search Console accounts Martindale set up.
- 30 or 60 days ahead
Give written notice, with the form
After your first term, 30 days' notice ends service on the first day of a new month. During it, 60 days' notice and the 60% fee.
- Before the end date
Ask for your domain and content file
Request the domain transfer and the data file of your content in writing. Some products allow only 30 days after the end date.
- The last month
Approve, then switch
Check the new site page by page, point your domain at it, and replace the call-tracking number everywhere it's printed.
- The month after
Check the bills and your profile
Make sure invoices stopped. The terms let Martindale-Hubbell copy content from your new site into your profile; you can opt out by email.
The request to send first
It asks for the form and the facts. It doesn't give notice.
Subject: Cancellation form and account details, [firm name] To Martindale-Avvo Customer Relations: Please send us the cancellation form from your Support/Retention Department, and confirm in writing: 1. Our order's initial term, its end date, and the monthly fee for each product. 2. Whether we are still in the initial term, and if so, what leaving would cost with notice today. 3. Who is listed as the registrant of [our domain], and how to transfer it to our own registrar. 4. That you'll send the data file of our website content before our end date. 5. Every tracking phone number on our website, profile and ads. 6. Who owns our Google Analytics, Search Console and Business Profile accounts, and who else has access. [Your name] [Firm name]
The terms give Customer Relations, 121 Chanlon Road, Suite 110, New Providence, NJ 07974, for notices. Keep the reply.
Sources: Martindale-Hubbell, Terms & Conditions of Use, §3.2–3.5, §6.1 and §16.8 (last revised Aug 23, 2024); Terms & Conditions for Specific Products (Aug 29, 2024); Internet Brands, Supplemental Legal Terms (Feb 23, 2026). All read Oct 29, 2026.
We rebuild your site in our own code, at the same addresses
Martindale-Hubbell keeps its templates; you get a data file of your content. We turn that file, your photos and your logo into a site of your own.
From the data file you're owed
Your practice pages, attorney bios and posts, each at the address it has today.
Built for your firm, and yours to keep
Designed around your logo and colors. If you ever leave us, you take an HTML copy of every page, once fees are paid.
- Every page at its current address, with the same title and description
- Your domain moves only after you've approved the new site
- We watch your search traffic for the month after launch
- Email us a change and it's live within two business days
- Export your content whenever you like
From $400 a month for up to 25 pages and posts, or $1,000 for up to 250. Billed annually, migration included.
Keeping your Martindale or Avvo profile? It's sold separately, so you can. On Business, from $1,300 a month, an optional marketing consultant runs your SEO and ads, priced into your quote. Nobody can honestly promise rankings or leads, and we don't.
What firms ask before leaving Martindale-Avvo
Anything else? Ask us directly. A person will answer.
How do I cancel my Martindale-Avvo website?
In writing, plus the cancellation form from Martindale-Hubbell's Support/Retention Department, which its terms have required since August 2024. After your first term, give 30 days' written notice; service ends on the first day of the next month. During the first term, notice has to come at least 60 days ahead, with the early-cancellation fee.
How much is the early-cancellation fee?
60% of what you'd still owe for the rest of your first term, plus any unpaid invoices and set-up fees. At $500 a month with seven months left after the notice period, for example, the fee is $2,100. Its wording hasn't changed since 2015.
Do I own my Martindale-Avvo website?
Your content, yes; the site, no. Internet Brands' terms say templates and infrastructure belong solely to Martindale-Hubbell, and a departing firm gets a data file of its content, not the design, code or website. Martindale-Hubbell may delete the site at termination.
Do I keep my domain?
It's registered for you as owner. Ask for the transfer in writing before your end date: for some products the terms allow only 30 days after it, then the domain can lapse or be pointed at your Martindale profile.
Why can't I find the cancellation form?
Martindale-Hubbell doesn't publish it. Its terms say it comes from the Support/Retention Department, so ask Customer Relations for it in writing, and keep the reply.
Can I negotiate a shorter contract?
Sometimes. On Reddit in April 2026, a lawyer described taking a one-year Avvo contract, declining to renew it, and later negotiating six months instead of a year. Another said they were six months into a one-year term at $379 a month, waiting for it to end. Both were about Avvo's advertising, not its websites. Ask before you sign, and get the term in writing.
Can I keep my Martindale or Avvo profile?
Yes. ProVantage, the profile, is a separate subscription, listed from $399 a month for the first user on Oct 29, 2026. The terms place website customers' profiles ahead of others, so a profile without the website may sit lower in the directory.
Will I lose my Google rankings?
Keep every page at its current address with the same title and description, and redirect anything that has to move. Rankings can wobble after any move, and nobody can promise them. In the first month, watch Search Console for pages not found.
Every source, dated
We read each one on the date shown. The archived copies stay put if a page changes.
- Martindale-Hubbell, “Terms & Conditions of Use for the Martindale-Hubbell Products, last revised Aug 23, 2024.” Read Oct 29, 2026.
Sections 3.2–3.5 (terms, notice, the cancellation form, the 60% fee). The version of Sep 15, 2015 (archived Jan 14, 2016) has the same fee.
- Martindale-Hubbell, “Terms & Conditions for Specific Products, last updated Aug 29, 2024.” Read Oct 29, 2026.
- Internet Brands, “Supplemental Legal Terms, last updated Feb 23, 2026.” Read Oct 29, 2026.
Section VIII.c covers Avvo websites and WebVantage. First version with Avvo's terms: Mar 1, 2023 (archived Apr 19, 2023).
- Avvo, “Terms of Use, revised Apr 30, 2020.” Archived Feb 6, 2023.
- Avvo, “Avvo Websites.” Archived Jun 14 and Aug 15, 2018.
- Martindale-Avvo, “Pricing.” Read Oct 29, 2026.
- Better Business Bureau, “LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell, Avvo Inc and Internet Brands: complaints.” Read Oct 29, 2026.
Includes an Aug 29, 2024 complaint about the 60% fee, and Avvo's Feb 28, 2024 reply that a profile's number was a tracking number.
- Internet Archive, “Wayback Machine copies of the terms and pricing pages above.” Index read Oct 29, 2026.
- Reddit, “Lawyers please avoid Avvo for your Marketing.” Read Oct 29, 2026.
r/Lawyertalk, April 2026. Lawyers' own accounts of Avvo advertising contracts, not verified. We found no Reddit account of leaving a Martindale-Avvo website.
- FairCopy, “Pricing.” Oct 29, 2026.