Boy, I wish I'd known beforehand...
On Monday of this week, November 19, I went down to the Legal Aid office here in Jacksonville, FL to see if I could get any help or even just a low-cost referral. I showed up an hour and a half before opening, waited in line, filled out the forms, met with an intern (to whom I told my sad story) and... that was it. No advice, no referral, no names of anyone that could possibly help, nothing. We'll get back to you, they said.
Well, they got back to me. Yesterday, I received a letter from them stating that unless I meet one of six conditions as listed in the letter, they will be unable to help with any bankruptcy related matter. The six conditions (and I am quoting directly from the letter) were listed as:
If I find that my situation ever changes and one of the six circumstances listed above "develops" I am welcome to contact them immediately and they will "reevaluate [my] application". Gee thanks, fellas.
I kind of suspected that it would be a dead end just because of various things I'd heard about it being hell to reach them by phone or in person, and then they wouldn't help unless you're in foreclosure (turns out to be true, that one) but even so, I have to admit to being kind of pi**ed about it: if they had simply put this information on their website it would have saved me hours of wasted time and a lot of gas and hassle. But in case anyone else is thinking about going to an area Legal Aid in Florida for bankruptcy help, maybe this will save you some time.
If they are really as overwhelmed as they insist, it really makes me wonder why they don't just put their conditions and exclusions for eligibility out front so they don't have to hear from people like me?
(sorry, I think I have begun to rant, I'll shush now) Anyone else have this experience with Legal Aid?
On Monday of this week, November 19, I went down to the Legal Aid office here in Jacksonville, FL to see if I could get any help or even just a low-cost referral. I showed up an hour and a half before opening, waited in line, filled out the forms, met with an intern (to whom I told my sad story) and... that was it. No advice, no referral, no names of anyone that could possibly help, nothing. We'll get back to you, they said.
Well, they got back to me. Yesterday, I received a letter from them stating that unless I meet one of six conditions as listed in the letter, they will be unable to help with any bankruptcy related matter. The six conditions (and I am quoting directly from the letter) were listed as:
- Stopping foreclosure of debtor's homestead
- Stopping a wage or bank account garnishment where debtor is not entitled to any exemptions under Florida or federal law to completely exempt wages from garnishment
- Helping a debtor reinstate a driver's license by discharging a subrogation judgement
- Helping a debtor qualify for government subsidized housing
- Discharging federal income taxes that meet the three tests of dischargeability in order to stop a wage garnishment by the IRS
- Helping the debtor qualify for some other governmental license, benefit, or Habijax housing assistance
If I find that my situation ever changes and one of the six circumstances listed above "develops" I am welcome to contact them immediately and they will "reevaluate [my] application". Gee thanks, fellas.
I kind of suspected that it would be a dead end just because of various things I'd heard about it being hell to reach them by phone or in person, and then they wouldn't help unless you're in foreclosure (turns out to be true, that one) but even so, I have to admit to being kind of pi**ed about it: if they had simply put this information on their website it would have saved me hours of wasted time and a lot of gas and hassle. But in case anyone else is thinking about going to an area Legal Aid in Florida for bankruptcy help, maybe this will save you some time.
If they are really as overwhelmed as they insist, it really makes me wonder why they don't just put their conditions and exclusions for eligibility out front so they don't have to hear from people like me?
(sorry, I think I have begun to rant, I'll shush now) Anyone else have this experience with Legal Aid?
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