[vc_row][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_custom_heading text=”SeniorLAW Center Services” font_container=”tag:h1|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]SeniorLAW Center provides a wide range of services in our mission to protect the legal rights and interests of the elderly.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”15px”][vc_single_image image=”8752″ img_size=”600×300″ alignment=”center”][vc_empty_space height=”15px”][vc_column_text]

SeniorLAW Center provides a wide array of civil legal services across Pennsylvania. With offices in Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties, as well as statewide services for older Pennsylvanians through its statewide PA SeniorLAW HelpLine, we pursue justice for older people. Please click here for more information on how to access those services.

Our services include the following:

DIRECT LEGAL SERVICES AND REPRESENTATION. Each year, SeniorLAW Center provides direct, individual legal services and representation to thousands of seniors in the greatest economic and social need which enable them to keep their homes, terminate family violence, rectify consumer and financial exploitation, and gain custody rights over children in their care. SeniorLAW Center’s model of service combines the efforts of its legal staff of attorneys and legal assistants with a panel of dedicated volunteer attorneys. We focus on problems in the major areas of housing, family law, elder abuse, financial exploitation, consumer protection, and advance planning. Within these areas, our priority areas of law are the following:

Housing: landlord/tenant matters, evictions, homeownership matters, mortgage foreclosures, tax foreclosures, sheriff sales, clearing title to property/tangled titles, deed transfers, real estate and inheritance taxes, other housing problems facing older homeowners and tenants

Elder Abuse and Financial Exploitation: prevention of elder abuse, family violence, financial exploitation, defiant trespass, other family law problems

Grandfamilies/Kinship Care: custody and support for grandparents raising grandchildren and other kinship caregivers, grandparent visitation

Advance Life Planning: simple wills, healthcare and financial powers of attorney, advance health care directives, living wills; administration of small estates; Medicaid estate recovery counseling. Most life planning services are provided by volunteer pro bono attorneys in partnership with SeniorLAW Center

Consumer Protection (limited services): consumer fraud, home repair contractor problems, unfair sales practices, collection and debt problems, property damage, utilities, warranties and contracts, other consumer problems

Other Civil Legal Issues: advice, information, brief services and referrals through the PA SeniorLAW HelpLine

COMMUNITY EDUCATION AND OUTREACH. SeniorLAW Center strives to prevent legal problems from occurring through extensive community outreach and education. Our staff frequently conducts community education and “know your rights” workshops, as well as outreach events throughout our local communities and at senior sites in Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties and, through our Pennsylvania SeniorLAW HelpLine, in various diverse areas of Pennsylvania, and distributes educational materials addressing legal issues affecting elders. https://seniorlawcenter.org/events/ for upcoming community-based events. Pursuing the belief that many legal and social crises can be prevented through knowledge and outreach, SeniorLAW Center educates seniors on their legal rights on topics with focus on prevention.

Presentations are available in English, Spanish and other languages upon request.

We ask for a minimum attendance of 30-35 participants for all presentations. All requests for community education and outreach presentations and professional trainings should be made via email to outreach@seniorlawcenter.org. Services are free, but we gladly accept stipends to support our staff time.

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING. SeniorLAW Center staff conducts professional training programs attended by other professionals working with older adults, to sensitize them to the legal problems facing the elderly as to further expand the scope of our work. Trainees include other lawyers, physicians, medical students, law enforcement officers, social workers, senior housing managers, housing counselors, mental health professionals, case managers, protective service investigators, in-home care workers, and others. Through this facet of our program, we expand and bolster our efforts to prevent, identify, and address legal problems facing older Pennsylvanians.

All requests for community education presentations and professional trainings should be made via email to outreach@seniorlawcenter.org. Services are free, but we gladly accept stipends to support our staff time.

ADVOCACY FOR LONG-TERM SYSTEMIC SOLUTIONS. SeniorLAW Center’s staff also pursues advocacy for long-term solutions and responses.

Each member of the legal staff serves on and provides leadership to or works closely with: national organizations addressing the needs of our older population, local and regional task forces, coalitions and committees, legal and social service agencies, governmental units and entities, elected officials, bar association leaders and committees, law school leaders and many other key stakeholders in the legal services and aging networks, addressing the problems of older adults to seek systemic solutions and responses to problems affecting the lives of the elderly and their families. For more information on a special pro bono project in partnership with AARP, focusing on systemic advocacy, please click here.

ADVICE, INFORMATION AND REFERRAL SERVICES

SeniorLAW Center provides legal advice, information, brief services and referrals to seniors, resolving some problems immediately and serving as an important gateway to a wide variety of legal and non-legal resources in the aging and legal services networks. We provide these services by telephone, in-person, and at various community sites. For access to services information, please click here.

Through the Pennsylvania SeniorLAW HelpLine (1-877-PA SR LAW or 1-877-727-7529), staff and volunteer attorneys give seniors across the state the information they need to protect themselves and their property, to ensure their rights are not violated, to make important personal planning decisions, to resolve a wide variety of legal problems, and, when necessary, to obtain additional assistance. For more information, click here.

[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][btn_button button_type=”default” btnalignment=”center” button_size=”2″ link=”url:http%3A%2F%2Fseniorlawcenter.org%2F%7Eseniotl8%2Faccess-services%2F|title:Access%20Services||” bgcolor=”#508bbf” bordercolor=”#000000″ fontcolor=”#ffffff” hoverbgcolor=”#ffffff” hoverbordercolor=”#000000″ hoverfontcolor=”#000000″][/btn_button][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”blog-sidebar”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row disable_element=”yes”][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_custom_heading text=”SeniorLAW Center Services” font_container=”tag:h1|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]SeniorLAW Center provides a wide range of services in our mission to protect the legal rights and interests of the elderly.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”15px”][vc_single_image image=”8752″ img_size=”600×300″ alignment=”center”][vc_empty_space height=”15px”][vc_tta_accordion spacing=”5″ active_section=”0125452520″ collapsible_all=”true”][vc_tta_section title=”Community-based Neighborhood Legal Services” tab_id=”1573545706411-4bc4bb1d-4cbd”][vc_column_text]SeniorLAW Center provides services not only through its statewide HelpLine and by telephone and walk-in intake at its center city Philadelphia offices, but throughout the communities of Philadelphia.  We are proud to provide home and hospital visits, outreaches throughout the city, special projects at community and senior centers, and at its five community-based intake sites.

Home Visits

Services available at all clinics in Spanish on-site and telephone interpretation services available for other languages.

SeniorLAW Center staff and its volunteer attorneys provide services to homebound, bedbound, severely disabled and chronically ill elders in their homes or at hospitals, nursing homes and long-term care facilities, when needed.

Community Education and Special Projects

SeniorLAW Center conducts community education workshops, outreach and special legal services projects throughout community, senior and family sites in Philadelphia, including those which bring corps of volunteer attorneys to sites throughout the city to provide individual services.  Check our Events page for upcoming community-based events or find out more about Community Education.

Community Legal Clinics for Senior Citizens

SeniorLAW Center offers direct services in diverse communities at seven sites in Philadelphia on specified dates and times each month. Community-based services expand SeniorLAW Center’s ability to reach isolated clients and provide services in a comfortable environment in their own neighborhoods.  Many of our clinics provide bilingual, bicultural legal services to language and cultural minorities.

 

By providing services in the communities that need them most, SeniorLAW Center makes its services extraordinarily accessible and effective.SeniorLAW Center is always eager to expand our services to new sites and populations of elders, if resources are available.  Please contact us if you have would like to pursue a partnership to create a new community clinic.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Advocacy For Long-term Systemic Solutions” tab_id=”1573545706484-18263e18-c433″][vc_column_text]SeniorLAW Center’s staff also pursues advocacy for long-term solutions and responses.

Each member of the legal staff serves on and provides leadership to task forces, coalitions and committees addressing the problems of the elderly, the poor, women, minorities and immigrants, to seek systemic solutions and responses to problems affecting the lives of the elderly and their families.  Our staff is actively involved with the Emergency Fund Coalition for Older Philadelphians, Philadelphia Society for Services to Children and its Kinship Institute, Nationalities Service Center, Philadelphia Corporation for Aging Latino and Asian Advisory Committees, Philadelphia Coalition for Victim Advocates, HomeSmart (Start Managing Assets, Repairs, and Title to property) Committee, Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (Senior Citizen Advisory Committee), Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition and the Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and minority bar associations.

We also work closely with governmental units such as the City Solicitor’s Office, Philadelphia Municipal Court, the Family Court Division of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, the Police Department and its Victim Assistance Officers, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office, the City’s Department of Licenses and Inspections and the City Solicitor’s Code Enforcement Unit, the Mayor’s Office on Services to the Aging, and other government entities that assist senior citizens.  State representatives and Senators, City Council, and many other elected representatives regularly refer constituents to SeniorLAW Center, as do the Department of Aging, AARP, and senior centers across the city and state.

SeniorLAW Center staff work closely with various legal and social service agencies, and health care providers to ensure that the needs of clients are met, including Women Against Abuse, Philadelphia Volunteers for the Indigent Program, Community Legal Services, Consumer Bankruptcy Assistance Program, AIDS Law Project, Nationalities Service Center, Lawyer Referral and Information Service, Grand Central, the Legal Clinic for the Disabled, Supportive Older Women’s Network (SOWN), Philadelphia Corporation for Aging, Center for Advocacy for Rights and Interests of Elderly (CARIE), Pennsylvania Association of Agencies on Aging ,and the Mayor’s Commission on Services to the Aging.  These agencies are just some of the over 100 agencies with which SeniorLAW Center coordinates its efforts and from which SeniorLAW Center regularly receives and provides client referrals.

SeniorLAW Center has taken leadership roles on advocacy efforts affecting the rights of seniors, including successfully leading an amicus group of advocates in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court against constitutional challenges to the Grandparent Custody and Visitation Act, testifying before City Council and State Senate and House Committees on needs of seniors, home repair contractor protections for vulnerable populations, and state constitutional amendments, working with other Pennsylvania legal providers on creating a civil right to counsel in areas of critical need for seniors and low-income populations, and working with local, state and national groups of legal advocates to develop funding for protecting the rights of seniors.[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Professional Training” tab_id=”1573545706555-5be7a749-ac2e”][vc_column_text]SeniorLAW Center staff conducts professional training programs attended by other professionals working with the elderly, including physicians, medical students, law enforcement officers, social workers, senior housing managers, mental health professionals, case managers, in-home care workers, and others.  Through this facet of our program, we expand and bolster our efforts to prevent, identify, and address legal problems facing the elderly.

Since its founding, SeniorLAW Center has conducted professional training for thousands of professionals who work with the elderly in other fields, to sensitize them to the legal problems facing the elderly as to further expand the scope of our work.

Topics include:

• Avoiding Financial Exploitation
• Identifying Elder Abuse and Forms of Protection
• Avoiding Home Repair Contractor Fraud
• Grandparent Custody and Visitation
• Wills, Powers of Attorney and Advance Health Care Directives to plan for future medical care, financial decisions, and mental health needs
• Services for Homebound Seniors
• Protection for Older Consumers

Presentations are available in English, Spanish and Cantonese, and other languages upon request.

If you or your organization is interested in scheduling a community education presentation, please call SeniorLAW Center’s Office Manager, Suzanne Goodwin, at 215-988-1244.  Services are free, but we gladly accept stipends to support our staff time.[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Advice, Information and Referral Services” tab_id=”1573545706628-7462d784-b259″][vc_column_text]SeniorLAW Center provides legal advice, information and referral services to seniors, resolving some problems immediately and serving as an important link to a wide variety of legal and nonlegal resources in the aging network.  We provide these services by telephone, in-person, and at various community sites.

Through the Pennsylvania SeniorLAW Helpline (1-877-PA SR LAW or 1-877-727-7529), staff and volunteer attorneys give seniors across the state the information they need to protect themselves and their property, to ensure their rights are not violated, to make important personal planning decisions, to resolve a wide variety of legal problems, and, when necessary, to obtain additional assistance.

In addition, SeniorLAW Center staff provide legal advice and information at our six community-based legal clinics at senior centers in Philadelphia, and at presentations to seniors and members of the aging network across the state.

Finally, we produce a quarterly electronic newsletter, the SeniorLAW News, that contains important and timely information, updates and alerts on legal issues that affect older Pennsylvanians.  To sign up for our e-news or to browse our e-news archives, click HERE.[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Community Outreach and Education” tab_id=”1573545706706-f4ccfa39-93e7″][vc_column_text]SeniorLAW Center also strives to prevent legal problems from occurring through extensive community outreach and education.  Pursuing the belief that many legal and social crises can be prevented through knowledge and outreach to the at-risk community, SeniorLAW Center staff seeks to empower older Pennsylvanians with information about their legal rights and interests so that they may become self-advocates.

To that end, SeniorLAW Center educates seniors on their legal rights at community venues throughout Philadelphia and, through our Pennsylvania SeniorLAW HelpLine, in various diverse areas of Pennsylvania, and distributes educational materials addressing legal issues affecting elders. Topics include:

• SeniorLAW Center Services
• Avoiding Financial Exploitation
• Elder Abuse
• Avoiding Home Repair Contractor Fraud
• Homeowner Issues and Resources
• Grandparent Custody and Visitation
• Services for Homebound Seniors
• Homeowners Assistance Program services
• Consumer Protection

Presentations are available in English & Spanish.

At present, due to escalating demand for our direct legal services, our community education efforts are focused on prevention of legal problems.  We ask for a minimum attendance of 30 participants. 

If you or your organization is interested in scheduling a community education presentation, please contact SeniorLAW Center’s Office Manager, at sgoodwin@seniorlawcenter.org.

Services are free, but we gladly accept donations to cover the expense of our staff’s time.[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Direct Legal Services And Representation” tab_id=”1573545706811-b26971c4-f28a”][vc_column_text]

Each year, SeniorLAW Center provides direct individual legal services and representation to thousands of needy senior citizens, which enable them to keep their homes, terminate family violence, rectify consumer and financial exploitation, and gain custody rights over children in their care to address their medical, educational, and care needs.

SeniorLAW Center’s model of service combines the efforts of its legal staff of attorneys and legal assistants and a panel of dedicated volunteer attorneys from the private Bar.  We focus on problems in the major areas of housing, consumer protection, family law, elder abuse, financial exploitation, and advance planning.

SeniorLAW Center and its volunteers provides individual direct legal services in a wide range of substantive areas, focusing on the following:

Advance Personal Planning

• simple wills
• powers of attorney
• advance health care directives
• administration of small estates
• Medicaid estate recovery counseling

Family Issues

• custody and support for grandparents raising grandchildren & other kinship caregivers
• grandparent visitation
• prevention of elder abuse
• family violence
• financial exploitation
• defiant trespass
• other family law problems

Housing

• landlord/tenant matters
• evictions
• mortgage foreclosures and problems
• sheriff sales
• clearing title to property
• deed transfers
• code enforcement
• property taxes
• other housing problems facing older homeowners

Consumer Protection

• consumer fraud
• home repair contractor problems
• unfair sales practices
• collection and debt problems
• property damage
• utilities
• warranties and contracts
• other consumer problems

Property and Inheritance Tax Aid for Elders

• Free legal representation and counsel to help seniors facing real estate tax and inheritance tax issues affecting homeownership and shelter
• Free legal assistance to help seniors sort out tangled titles to their homes, so that the deeds to their homes will be in their own names
• Community education and outreach to help seniors facing crippling real estate tax debt

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