ELIGIBILITY FOR SERVICES NO FEE IS CHARGED FOR SERVICES WE CAN REPRESENT YOU IF: You live in our service area which is Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties You are a citizen, permanent resident or have other acceptable immigration status You  have a household income below 125% of the federal poverty income guidelines You have the type of case we handle NOTE  There are no income guidelines for those over 60  We have special guidelines for our tax clinic and persons with AIDS.

BECOMING A CLIENT You may become a client of LSGMI in a number of ways: 1. Call the Main, Key West or South Dade office. Sometimes we can help you over the telephone. Otherwise, you will be asked to come to the office in person. 2. Walk-in to the Main, Key West or South Dade office. In many cases a casehandler can help you the same day. Otherwise, you will be given an appointment with a casehandler for another day. 3. Walk-in to a neighborhood office. While you are in a neighborhood office you will either receive advice and referral information from an intake paralegal, or you may speak on the telephone to a casehandler in the Main office about your problem. If a casehandler is not available, you will be called back within twenty-four hours. 4. If you are disabled and requireaccommodation please call us.

Types of Services Offered

PEOPLE WE HELP: Legal Services of Greater Miami, Inc. helps people in Miami-Dade County and Monroe County who have a household income below 125% of the federal poverty guidelines. We do not charge a fee for our legal services.

CASES WE HANDLE: Legal Services of Greater Miami, Inc. handles a variety of civil legal cases. Examples of cases that we handle include:

• EMPLOYMENT AND ECONOMIC SECURITY
  * - Government benefits
  * - Job training and employment program matters
  * - Help for organizations creating jobs
  * - IRS tax disputes
  * - Problems with transition from welfare to work
  * - Citizenship advocacy for Haitians
  
  
• FAMILY SUPPORT
  * - Special education for students with disabilities
  * - Access to specialized public school programs
  * - Emancipation of minors
  * - Relative custody
  * - In Monroe County only, dissolution of marriage cases involving spouse abuse or contested custody
  
  
• HOUSING
  * - Public and subsidized housing matters
  * - Preservation of publicly subsidized housing
  * - Private landlord-tenant matters limited to lock-outs, bad conditions, and retaliation
  * - Homeownership problems including foreclosure and predatory lending
  * - Relocation benefit problems
  * - Mobile home problems
  * - Access to utilities
  * - Help for organizations in the development, preservation, nd rehabilitation of affordable housing
  
  
• SAFETY, STABILITY AND HEALTH
  * - Family violence problems
  * - Medicaid benefits problems
  * - HMO problems of Medicaid and Medicare recipients
  * - Access to health care services
  
  
• PROTECT VULNERABLE POPULATIONS - HIV POSITIVE CLIENTS
  * - Probate and estate planning
  * - Custodial arrangements for children
  * - Discrimination cases
  * - Private landlord tenant and home ownership matters
  
  
• CONSUMER PROBLEMS
  
  
• HOMELESS
  * - Secure or maintain housing and services
  * - Government benefits
  * - Education of homeless children
  
  
• OTHER SERVICES - Call our office for more information about other services and programs including:
  * - Community education
  * - Legal clinics
  * - Referrals to private lawyers who will not charge a fee
  * - Inter-agency collaboration