SeniorLAW Center provides a wide range of services to support the legal rights and interests of older Pennsylvanians, including trauma-informed lawyering, education, and advocacy at the local, state, and national levels.
Our dedicated volunteer attorneys and legal advocates provide direct individual legal services and representation to thousands of seniors in the greatest economic and social need. We provide trauma-informed lawyering primarily in Philadelphia and its surrounding counties, and we provide legal advice, referral services, and a toll-free HelpLine throughout the state.
We focus on 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 & Financial Exploitation
- Prevention of elder abuse
- Help with family violence
- Protection from/remediation of financial exploitation
- Defiant trespass issues
- Other family law problems
Family & Kinship Care
- Custody and support for grandparents raising grandchildren and other kin
- Grandparent visitation
Advanced Life Planning
Most life planning services are provided by volunteer pro bono attorneys in partnership with SeniorLAW Center.
- Simple wills
- Health care and financial powers of attorney
- Advance health care directives
- Living wills
- Administration of small estates
- Medicaid estate recovery counseling
Consumer Protection
- 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
- Services for seniors who are not proficient in English
- Special services to older veterans
Access the HelpLine
1-877-PA SR LAW
1-877-727-7529
We believe that many legal and social crises can be avoided with enough knowledge and outreach, so we prioritize prevention in our community education initiatives.
SeniorLAW Center staff conducts regular education and “Know Your Rights” workshops in our local communities and online. Our presentations are available in English, Spanish and other languages upon request.
We also provide education and distribute information statewide through our Pennsylvania SeniorLAW HelpLine, offering tools to assist individuals, communities, and partners.
For all upcoming events, click here.
Interested in hosting a presentation?
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.
We conduct training to sensitize individuals in various professions to the legal problems facing older adults. 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.
This program bolsters 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.
An important part of our work involves seeking systemic solutions and responses to the issues facing older individuals. To that end, each member of our legal team serves on, 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
- Other key stakeholders in the legal services and aging networks
SeniorLAW HelpLine
1-877-PA SR LAW
1-877-727-7529
We provide legal advice, information, brief services, and referrals to older Pennsylvanians, 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 offer these services by telephone, in person, and at various community sites.
Through the Pennsylvania SeniorLAW HelpLine, 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 to obtain additional assistance when necessary.
Want to support our programs with a donation?