Public Benefits Intake

Terms of Use and General Information about Online Intake

By using this application you are asking the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia for free help with a legal matter in the District of Columbia. We cannot help with legal matters that are in Maryland, Virginia, or another state outside of the District of Columbia.

Upcoming Court Date or Deadline

We will try to get back to you within two weeks but cannot promise to make a decision by any date. If you have a court date or another deadline coming up in the next two weeks, we will try to review your application more quickly, but we cannot guarantee that we will get back to you before your upcoming court date/deadline. You are also welcome to contact Legal Aid by phone at (202) 628-1161 on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Legal Aid Is Not Your Lawyer

Legal Aid does not represent you unless and until we give you a written agreement that says that Legal Aid will be your lawyer and will represent you in a specific matter. Until then, you are still responsible for all the actions you need to take in your case.

Confidentiality

Legal Aid will not disclose any confidential information you share with us without your permission.

Income Guidelines for Services

We generally serve individuals whose household income is at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines. For some types of cases, we may serve individuals whose household income is up to 300% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines.

Legal Aid Cannot Help Everyone

Even if you are eligible for our services, we cannot accept every case. Legal Aid must avoid conflicts of interest. A conflict can arise, for example, if we gave legal help to the opposing party in your case. If there is a conflict of interest, we won’t be able to accept your case.

There are also many other reasons why Legal Aid may not be able to take your case, including that Legal Aid simply does not have enough staff to represent all applicants who need help. If we do not take your case, we will send you a notice to let you know. We will not state the reason or whether there is a conflict of interest.

As you navigate through the form, please use the “Next” and “Back” buttons instead of your browser’s built-in arrow keys.

Step 1 of 5

Section A: Basic Information

Please provide the following basic information, which will be used to perform a conflicts check. If we are unable to assist you based on this information, we will not review and will not enter into our system any information from the following sections.

* indicates a required field.