Group gives low-income families legal options

As a full-time student at Capital Of Florida Community College, Leah Riggins, 23, doesn't have got other money to save to pay for lawyer fees.

The female parent of an 18-month-old girl, Riggins is seeking a divorce. She and her hubby thought about trying to travel through the procedure on their own, but Internet research on the topic left them feeling overwhelmed by the legal complexities.

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A friend told her about the Legal Aid Foundation, which supplies free legal aid for low-income families and individuals, so she called and set up an assignment with lawyer Craig Dennis.

"I believe it's a small daunting at first because you don't cognize how people are going to see you if you don't have got money," she said. "You don't desire to travel out and have got people see you as a bad individual and a inexpensive person. But my lawyer is very friendly and very helpful, so it's not so daunting anymore."

The Legal Aid Foundation have about 13,000 phone calls from people seeking aid and open ups an norm of 1,000 new lawsuits a year. It supplies civil legal services for states of affairs such as as landlord-tenant disputes, divorcement cases, child-custody lawsuits and adoptions.

Sometimes, getting a lawyer involved assists to do a client's ailment more official and will motivate the offending political party to rectify a mistake.

Kathy Arrant, the foundation's executive manager director, remembers one state of affairs where a tree drop in the backyard of a family's rental place and crushed the fence. The landlord was unresponsive to the family's ailments until they had an lawyer from the Legal Aid Foundation phone call and inquire him to repair the situation.

A figure of local lawyers military volunteer their clip at the foundation.