Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, the State Bar of Texas, the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division (ABA YLD), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and other organizations are partnering to provide legal and recovery assistance to people affected by severe storms and flooding that occurred in Cameron, Hidalgo, and Willacy counties on June 24 and 25.
A toll-free legal hotline (866-757-1570) is available to connect low-income individuals affected by the disaster with local legal aid providers who can help with:
- Assistance securing government benefits as they are made available to disaster victims;
- Assistance with life, medical, and property insurance claims;
- Help with home repair contracts and contractors;
- Replacement of wills and other important legal documents lost or destroyed in the disaster;
- Consumer protection issues such as price-gouging and avoiding contractor scams in the rebuilding process;
- Counseling on mortgage-foreclosure problems; and
- Counseling on landlord-tenant problems
Individuals who qualify for assistance will be matched with Texas lawyers who can provide free, limited legal help. Requestors should be aware that there are some limitations on disaster legal services. For example, assistance is not available for cases that will produce a fee (i.e., those cases where attorneys are paid part of the settlement by the court). Such cases are referred to a local lawyer referral service.
For more information, read the full news release.