Editorial Standards

1. Editorial mission

Bedrocka Tools exists to give people legal cost calculators they can audit, not black boxes they have to trust. Our editorial mission is verifiable trust: every formula is open-source on GitHub, every assumption is cited to a primary source, and every page is reviewed by a named human with public accountability. We believe the people most affected by legal proceedings deserve access to the same math that their attorneys, opposing counsel, and courts use — without needing to pay for a consultation just to understand a number.

2. How our calculators are built

Every calculator on a Bedrocka Tools site goes through the same six-step process. We document the process here because the claims in our author bio — that the math is verifiable, the sources primary, and the reviewer named — only mean something if there's a documented production process behind them.

1. Source identification. Before we write a line of code we identify the primary sources for the category — state statute, federal regulation, federal agency table, or professional standards document. If a primary source doesn't exist, we don't ship a calculator: we ship a research note explaining why.
2. Formula derivation. We derive each formula directly from the source documents, citing them as code comments at the call site. Anyone reading the source on GitHub can trace each constant back to the authoritative document and section that defined it.
3. Test case generation. For every calculator we write automated tests against worked examples from primary sources — state OCSS worksheet examples, BLS Work-Life Table lookups, IRS IRC §104 interpretive guidance. The tests run on every commit. A regression in math gets caught before it can reach a reader.
4. Code review. Every calculation passes a human review before publication. For legal-cost content the reviewer is Byron Malone in his operator capacity. For specialized regulated domains — where prescriptive legal guidance is involved rather than pure-math estimation — we engage credentialed subject-matter experts and credit them on the page.
5. Methodology documentation. For each calculator category we publish a methodology page covering how the formulas derive from primary sources, what edge cases are handled, what we don't model, and when the page was last reviewed. Those pages live at /methodology and the per-category routes beneath it.
6. Public release. The calculator goes live with a “View source on GitHub” link in the math accordion, full citations in the page copy, a named reviewer byline, and a last-updated date. Nothing publishes without those four elements.

3. How AI is used (and where humans review)

Bedrocka Tools is one of the first legal-cost media properties built natively on AI automation. We use AI for: drafting calculator copy and explanatory content, generating test cases, monitoring regulatory sources for changes, and producing initial article drafts. Every AI-produced output passes through human editorial review before publication: every formula is verified by Byron Malone, every citation is checked against the primary source, every published page has a named reviewer.

We use AI as amplification of editorial judgment, not replacement. The transparency isn't optional — we believe readers facing legal proceedings deserve to know how the content they rely on is produced. If a piece of content was AI-drafted, it was human-reviewed before it shipped, and the human who reviewed it is named on the page.

4. How we vet sources

Every formula and assumption in a Bedrocka Tools calculator traces to a primary source. Primary sources we use on this site:

• State child-support guideline statutes — all 50 states and the District of Columbia publish their child-support guidelines by statute or administrative rule; we cite the specific state code or regulation for each state-specific calculation.
• HHS Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) — the federal cross-state reference for guideline models (Income Shares, Percentage of Obligor Income, Melson formula), federal poverty guidelines used in self-support reserves, and annual OCSS data reports.
• Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Work-Life Tables — the standard federal reference for life expectancy and work-life expectancy inputs used in present-value lost-wages calculations.
• Internal Revenue Code sections — IRC §104 (personal injury and sickness settlement exclusion), IRC §86 (Social Security benefits and structured settlement tax treatment), IRC §71 and §215 (alimony pre- and post-TCJA 2017).
• ABA Model Rule 1.5 — fee reasonableness standard; state bar rules including Florida Bar Rule 4-1.5(f)(4)(B) (personal injury contingency caps) and Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §6146 (medical malpractice fee schedule).
• AAJ (American Association for Justice) litigation-economics surveys — used for context on settlement benchmarks, cited as a secondary source where primary case-data does not exist.
• Bureau of Justice Statistics civil justice data — jury award and settlement data for contextual benchmarks, cited as secondary sources and labeled as such.
• State Department of Revenue and state bar guidance — cited by state and labeled as state-specific when state rules diverge from the federal baseline.

We do not cite blog posts, content-marketing pages, or aggregator sites as primary sources. We do not cite our own prior content as a source. When sources disagree or when a state rule diverges from a federal baseline, we cite both and explain the discrepancy rather than picking one and hiding the conflict.

5. Update and correction policy

State child-support guidelines change by legislative session. Contingency fee caps change by state bar rule amendment. BLS Work-Life Tables update on a federal publication schedule. IRC §104 interpretations evolve through IRS guidance. A legal-cost calculator that doesn't update with its sources becomes actively misleading. Bedrocka Tools intelligence agents continuously monitor primary sources for changes affecting our calculators. When sources update, we evaluate and refresh affected calculators within 30 days, with named-reviewer signature on the update. Each calculator displays a “Last Reviewed” date.

When we publish a calculation with an error, we acknowledge it publicly on our corrections page, fix the error promptly, and document what was wrong, when it was identified, and who reviewed the fix. We believe transparent corrections strengthen trust more than silent fixes. If you've spotted an error, email info@bedrockatools.com with the calculator slug, the inputs you used, and the output you got. We respond to every report within three business days.

6. Affiliate disclosure and editorial independence

Bedrocka Tools earns revenue partly from affiliate partnerships with companies whose products we recommend, and partly from display advertising on our pages. We disclose these relationships clearly on every page where they apply — see our affiliate disclosure for the full partner list and commission structure.

Affiliate revenue does not influence which calculators we build, what sources we cite, or what our methodology says. Editorial decisions are made by Byron Malone and reviewed before publication; affiliate partners have no influence on editorial content. We select affiliate partners based on alignment with our editorial standards: partners must have verifiable customer service, transparent pricing, and reputable industry standing. We decline partnerships with products we wouldn't recommend on the merits — this applies especially to predatory financial products like pre-settlement funding, where we have an affirmative policy against promotion.

When multiple affiliate partners exist for a category, our recommendation is based on which best fits the reader's situation — not which partner pays the highest commission. If you spot a recommendation that looks affiliate-driven rather than editorial, please email info@bedrockatools.com.

7. Author, contributor, and YMYL-Legal reviewer policy

Every Bedrocka Tools page has a named human reviewer. We do not publish under “Editorial Staff” or “Bedrocka Team” bylines. Reviewers are identified by name with a link to a public author page that includes their professional background and contact information.

Currently, Byron Malone serves as the primary editor and reviewer for legal-cost content across all five calculator categories (Child Support & Custody, Personal Injury, Family Law, Settlement Valuation, Immigration & Other). Byron is an operator-author who runs the math and cites the sources. He is not a licensed attorney, and the site's content is designed to inform, not to advise.

YMYL-Legal surface protocol. Legal DIY & Cost Estimator is a YMYL-Legal surface — the content has direct consequences for people navigating legal proceedings. For this reason, the site is conservatively scoped per the three-pillar doctrine (open-source math, primary-source citations, named-author accountability). The Day-1 stubs — child support estimator, lost wages calculator, contingency fee calculator — are pure-math estimators that compute guideline formulas against published primary sources. They do not provide prescriptive legal guidance (e.g., “you should accept this settlement” or “you should seek primary custody”) and therefore do not require a licensed-attorney reviewer byline to publish.

Future calculator gating. Calculators or articles that move from pure-math estimation into prescriptive legal guidance — including alimony restructuring strategy, business-valuation-for-divorce expert opinion frameworks, or immigration income-requirement application guidance — are gated behind a licensed-attorney reviewer byline before publication. Until that sign-off exists, such content publishes only as a planning-estimate framework with an explicit non-licensure disclosure. Some categories (alimony calculation under post-TCJA IRC §71/§215, immigration income thresholds under USCIS Form I-864 requirements) may be introduced in future iterations of the site in this gated form.

The expansion to credentialed contributors is an active commitment, with formal recruitment beginning in Year 1 of operations. As contributors are added, they will appear with full bylines, public author pages, and category-specific reviewer attribution on the pages they review. Read the lead reviewer's full bio at /authors/byron-malone.

8. Contact and feedback

Spotted an error? Want to suggest a calculator we should build? Have feedback on our methodology? Email Byron Malone directly at info@bedrockatools.com or open an issue on our GitHub repository. We read every message.