Client Eligibility
Who
can get help from Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC)?
What
kind of cases does LANC handle?
What
are examples of cases typically handled by LANC?
Where
are the LANC offices located?
Who can get help from Legal Aid of North Carolina?
To get free help from Legal Aid of North Carolina, you must:
-
Meet our financial eligibility guidelines for family income
and assets.
-
Have a problem that affects your basic needs and that falls
within our case acceptance criteria.
In most situations, the family income must fall
below 125% of the federal poverty guidelines. However, the income levels
eligibility criteria typically does not apply to
domestic violence
victims and/or senior citizens; also other exceptions may apply.
Call your nearest
LANC office to inquire about eligibility.
Please note that Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC) has limited staff and resources
to serve low-income clients living across North Carolina. The establishment
of our priorities does not indicate that every eligible client with
a priority case will be provided representation by LANC staff. The delivery
of services in a priority case will be dependent upon local case acceptance
guidelines, the availability of services from other sources, financial
resources and available staff, which may vary from time to time. Further,
in determining the level of service to be provided, staff will consider
whether a priority case will involve issues of a non-frivolous nature
in accordance with the North Carolina Rules of Professional Responsibility,
whether the value of professional time to be spent on the case exceeds
the economic benefit to the client and whether the case has a small
likelihood of success. The staff in Legal Aid of North Carolina's field offices
review financial eligibility of each client and determine if the legal
request meets local case acceptance criteria.
What kind of cases does Legal Aid of North Carolina handle?
Legal Aid of North Carolina offices provide legal assistance to eligible clients
in civil (non-criminal) cases in the following basic areas: consumer,
education, family, health care, housing, income maintenance and/or wills/estate
planning. Additionally, Legal Aid of North Carolina has established statewide projects
that serve special populations or topic areas.
What are examples of some of the cases typically handled by LANC advocates?
- Consumer: Bankruptcy; consumer debt; school loans; defective
products; insurance coverage denial
- Education:
School
discipline; student’s rights
- Employment: Unemployment compensation
- Family: Child custody/visitation;
assistance to family violence victims
- Health: Medicaid, Medicare and/or health insurance problems
- Housing: Eviction defense; illegal lockouts or utility cutoffs
by landlords; home foreclosures; housing discrimination; tenants’
rights; public or subsidized housing disputes.
- Income Maintenance: SSI/Social Security disability benefits;
food stamps; TANF; Special Assistance
Note: It is important to remember that because of limited
resources, Legal Aid of North Carolina cannot always accept every
case listed above for representation.
A sample of actual client cases can be found on the
Client Cases webpage.
Where are the LANC offices located?
The street addresses and telephone numbers of the Legal Aid of North Carolina
offices can be found on the LANC
"Offices" webpage. Please note that Legal Aid of North Carolina does not provide legal
assistance via e-mail. Legal Aid of North Carolina serves eligible clients in all
the 100 counties in North Carolina through its 24
offices and five
statewide project units.
Disclaimer
The materials contained on this website are for information and educational
purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Please contact your
Legal Aid of North Carolina office or a private attorney if you need to speak to
an attorney regarding your particular situation. See our complete
disclaimer.
Mission Statement
Legal Aid of North Carolina is a statewide, nonprofit law firm that
provides free legal services in civil matters to low-income people in
order to ensure equal access to justice and to remove legal barriers
to economic opportunity.