The only way I know to do that is to first remove the passwords using Word.
Then you should be able to open the files using Wordperfect 12.

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
http://www.herbtyson.com
Please respond in the newsgroups so everyone can follow along.
"Midnite" wrote in message
...
I have password protected files in Microsoft Word that I would like to open
in Word Perfect 12, but keep getting the following message: "An unexpected
error occurred while reading C:\Documents and Settings\.........\My
Documents\name of file. Does anybody have any suggestions for how to
convert
this to access the files?