Provides Legal information on the following topics: Divorce, Parenting Plan Modification, Paternity, Third-Party Custody and Protection Orders. Also provides services for Land Lord/Tennant Issues, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Bankruptcy, and Will preparation

Legal Services - Low Income offered at Volunteer Lawyer Program of Island County

Provides Legal information on the following topics: Divorce, Parenting Plan Modification, Paternity, Third-Party Custody and Protection Orders. Also provides services for Land Lord/Tennant Issues and Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Programs that provide assistance for people who want to obtain custody of their children as a part of a divorce or separation action, who want to appeal all or a portion of the terms of a previous child custody decision, or in the case of a noncustodial parent, who want to establish or appeal the terms of a visitation award or a court-ordered visitation schedule. Included are programs that provide child custody/visitation assistance for people who are not legally married but have children together.

Child Custody/Visitation Assistance

Programs that provide an impartial third person who is selected by the parties to a dispute or appointed by an outside body, who presides over a hearing at which both parties have an opportunity to be heard, and who issues an award that both parties have agreed in advance to accept as final. Included are compulsory arbitration in which the consent of one of the parties is enforced by statutory provisions, voluntary arbitration which involves mutual and free consent by both parties, interest arbitration in which the terms of a contract are settled, and grievance arbitration which concerns the violation or interpretation of an existing contract.

Arbitration

Programs that provide information about specific legal problems and procedures that interested individuals can access on a website or in person, or by telephone, email, chat, text or other communication channel. Information may be in a self-serve, browsable format (for example a web resource directory or library of audio recordings) or provided by live agents with expertise in the field. Also included are legal aid services, bar associations and other programs that provide basic information about family law, landlord/tenant law, immigration law, consumer law, elder law, patient rights, the rights of persons with disabilities, the criminal justice system, the civil court system and other legal topics via workshops, classes, speaking engagements, printed materials, video tutorials, websites and other similar educational avenues.

Legal Information Services

Programs that provide assistance for people who are unable to pay their creditors and need to declare bankruptcy. Included may be help in evaluating a personal or business bankruptcy as an option, assistance in completing and filing bankruptcy forms and/or representation in bankruptcy hearings.

Bankruptcy Assistance

Programs that provide assistance which helps to ensure that parents fulfill their mutual obligation to financially support and provide health care for their children. Included are services for people who want to locate an absent parent; establish paternity; establish a child support order; request that the non-custodial parent provide health insurance for a child in conjunction with a child support order; change the amount of a child support award; dispute a child support award; or enforce payment of child support monies in cases where the supporting parent is delinquent in paying or refuses to pay or make health insurance arrangements altogether. Child support is money paid by one parent to another for the maintenance, including the education, of their children following the dissolution of their marriage or other relationship. Non-custodial parents enrolled in an insurance plan at work may be required to include the child under this coverage while those not covered by any insurance plan may be required to obtain medical coverage, if available at a reasonable cost. Child support assistance/enforcement may be provided by private attorneys, legal clinics, family law facilitators' offices or child support enforcement programs which are available in all states, often as a component of the district attorney's office.

Child Support Assistance/Enforcement

Programs that help to determine the probability of parenthood in disputes involving a claim or denial of paternity or maternity by analyzing blood and tissue samples from the assumed father or mother for compatibility with the child's blood and tissue. Included are programs that establish claims of fatherhood or motherhood in situations where immigrants are seeking family-based visas for their offspring or parents.

Paternity/Maternity Establishment

Programs that help tenants and landlords resolve disputes regarding security and other rental deposits, unsanitary conditions, failure to make repairs, privacy, notice requirements, excessive rent increases, nonpayment of rent, neglect or damage to property, overcrowding or other grievances.

Landlord/Tenant Dispute Resolution

Programs that provide assistance on an individual or group basis for people who want to draft a Last Will and Testament which leaves instructions for the disposition of their property following their death and need assistance in ensuring that the document is properly written. Also included are programs that provide copies of the Last Will and Testament form that is valid in their jurisdiction.

Will Preparation Assistance

Programs that provide assistance for people who are initiating or responding to a suit for an annulment of their marriage, which establishes that a marital status never existed; a legal separation, which suspends the marriage so far as concerns the cohabitation of the two parties; or a divorce, which totally dissolves the marriage relationship. These programs may also discuss and represent the individual's interests regarding distribution of property assets and parenting issues regarding any children.

Divorce Assistance

Programs that provide a neutral third person who is acceptable to all parties to a dispute who facilitates discussion between the parties and aids them in making their own settlement decisions.

Mediation

Provides free legal assistance by phone for LGBTQ people and their legal advocates. Focuses on helping with custody disputes, separation or divorce, and immigration or asylum. Can potentially assist with other topics as well.
Advocates for equitable public policies affecting the LGBTQ community, and conducts community education on LGBTQ issues.

Legal Information Line offered at National Center for Lesbian Rights

Provides free legal assistance by phone for LGBTQ people and their legal advocates. Focuses on helping with custody disputes, separation or divorce, and immigration or asylum. Can potentially assist with other topics as well.

Organizations that support the passage and enforcement of laws and other social measures that protect and promote the rights and interests of individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, two-spirit, or otherwise as part of the gender and sexually expansive community.

LGBTQ2+ Advocacy Groups

Programs that assist in filing petitions for asylee status in situations where the individuals are unwilling or unable to return to or avail themselves of the protection of their country of nationality or last residence because they have been persecuted or have a well-founded fear of persecution based on their race, religion, political opinion, membership in a particular social group, or nationality. Asylum applications must be filed within one year of admission to the United States and can be made after admission or at a port of entry. Asylees may apply for lawful permanent resident status after one year.

Asylum Application Filing Assistance

Helps families navigate their way through family law court by helping them complete the necessary forms, prepare documents and learn how to represent themselves in court. Provides all the necessary forms as well as free photocopying and technology services. Offers weekend and evening legal workshops and clinics. Interactive, in-person format. At the conclusion of a workshop, the presenter(s) will be available to meet privately with those users who request a private coaching session.

Spokane Family Law Self-Help Center offered at Spokane Fatherhood Initiative

Helps families navigate their way through family law court by helping them complete the necessary forms, prepare documents and learn how to represent themselves in court. Offers weekend and evening legal workshops and clinics.

Programs that provide information and advice, help with documents, legal counseling and/or representation and other forms of legal assistance which deal broadly with family law issues such as divorce and separation, child custody and access, and support payments rather than specializing in a particular issue that concerns relationships and rights within families.