VETERANS

NEED HELP?

Call (239) 775-4555 for assistance

The valiant men and women who protect our country deserve our deepest gratitude for their service. When local Veterans encounter life-changing legal issues and cannot afford an attorney, Legal Aid provides free legal services to meet these needs.

There are approximately 30,000 Veterans living in Collier County. Nearly 2,000 of these local Veterans live at or below the Federal Poverty Level, and over 3,500 Collier County Veterans have a service-connected disability rating.

When hard times hit, Legal Aid offers legal solutions to eligible Veterans in need on a wide range of civil legal matters to promote health, safety, and economic stability. Many Veterans often need help to secure safe and affordable Housing, to receive income and medical benefits to meet basic needs, and to access legal services to remove barriers to employment and to promote healthy families.

To learn more about our Veterans Legal Project click here.

Legal Aid assists Veterans on legal matters which include the following:

  • Housing (including foreclosure, eviction, unsafe living conditions, improper shut-off of utilities, preserving and accessing affordable housing, assisted living, and senior housing)
  • Income and medical benefits (including Veterans Administration (V.A.), social security, Medicare, Medicaid, SSI, SSD, access to healthcare and benefits for food and basic needs)
  • Employment (unpaid wages, discrimination, failure to make reasonable accommodations for disabilities, obtaining expungement of criminal records, driver’s license reinstatement)
  • Credit and collections (repairing credit, defending against wage garnishment, defending car repossession, resolving claims and disputes with creditors, Chapter 7 Bankruptcy)
  • Adjustments of Discharge Status through the V.A.
  • Wills, Trusts, Powers of Attorney, Medical Care Directives – preparing basic estate planning documents, providing legal services to address serious lifetime incapacity and end of life issues)

 

Legal Aid also operates a special Wills for Heroes project annually each November. This special project assists all local Veterans, police officers, firefighters, first responders and their spouses with the preparation of free basic estate planning documents (Wills, Trusts, Medical Care Directives).