Students will interview low-income residents of the Rio Grande Valley by videoconference across two clinic appointments. During the first appointment, students will guide clients in drafting holographic wills, will draft deeds designed to transfer property outside of probate court, and will help families obtain reductions in their property taxes where applicable. During the second appointment, students will draft documents designed to navigate medical and financial decisions in the event of serious illness and incapacity.
Organization
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid
TRLA provides free civil legal services to low-income residents in 68 Southwest Texas counties, and represents migrant and seasonal farm workers throughout the state and in six other southern states. TRLA also operates public defender programs that serve 10 Texas counties, representing low-income people accused of felonies, misdemeanors, and juvenile crimes in state court. TRLA is the third largest legal services provider in the nation and the largest in the state of Texas. TRLA serves approximately 23,000 clients each year. TRLA is hosting the Asset Preservation and Estate Planning Clinic in partnership with the Mithoff Program.
Project Details
- Website
- https://www.trla.org
- Project Start Date
January 12-22, 2021; Tuesday, January 12, 2pm-8pm; Wednesday, January 13, 12pm-6pm; Thursday, January 14, 12pm-6pm; Wednesday, January 20, 2pm-8pm; Thursday, January 21, 12pm-6pm; Friday, January 22, 12pm-6pm; students must be available for all clinic and training dates though the final time windows for clinic appointments may be shorter than six hours per session based on client schedules
- Approximate hours of work requested
- 40-45 hours, including live and asynchronous training
- Training
- Monday, January 11, 1:10pm-4:30pm and Tuesday, January 19, 1:10pm-4:30pm (virtual via Zoom); review of asynchronous materials will be required before each live training session
- Skills used
- Document preparation/review; client interviewing/counseling
- Project location
- Virtual
- Number of student volunteers requested
- 20
- Class year preference
- 1L, 2L, 3L, LLM
- Required skills
- The ability to speak and understand Spanish at a level adequate to communicate with clients in Spanish is required for approximately one-half of volunteer openings; if you meet this language requirement please select a “Spanish speaker” ticket on Eventbrite
- To Apply
- Register at https://willspbj21.eventbrite.com ; if you speak and understand Spanish at a level adequate to communicate with clients in Spanish, please select a “Spanish speaker” ticket on Eventbrite