Legal assistance, for those who qualify financially, may be available through Legal Aid of Wyoming. That was the report  from  attorney Kelly Blue at a Kemmerer Rotary meeting in July.

Blue is board president for Legal Aid of Wyoming.

“Legal Aid of Wyoming provides civil services to low income [residents},” explained Blue. She said the services do  not cover public defender or defense work in criminal cases. “It’s only civil cases, and that would be problems with rent or eviction, housing issues, debt issues or credit card or even bankruptcy,” she explained.

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Blue said the legal aid program could also help with  “family law, such as divorce or custody, establishment, modification, and things like that.”

Legal Aid of Wyoming services are based on an income scale. She explained, “It’s based on your income, and is usually tied to the poverty level as established by health and human services.”

She added, “You can look it up online, Legal Aid of Wyoming and there is an online portal, so you can do an online application through that portal.”

For additional information, call is 877-432 9955.

“That gets you connected. You do have to call more than once, sometimes to get through, or leave a message, or you wait on hold because they do have just the one line. Usually there is one attorney working,” she said. “You can ask short questions, and get an answer about where to go or what to do, and then you also have the opportunity to do an interview if you are seeking to get representation.”

Asked about an example of someone who could benefit from the service, Blue answered, “Someone who has supplemental social security insurance and a part-time job would be income eligible,” she said. “They would because their income is low enough that they’re not meeting that threshold, and they might need to file for bankruptcy, to protect the few assets they have, or they might need to file for divorce or modify a custody arrangement that they have.”

Blue noted, “We do veteran services as well, and almost every veteran would be eligible for services because it is a grant that comes through the federal government to assist veterans.” She continued,  “Anyone  who is a veteran would be eligible for services, that includes writing a will, healthcare directives, and all of the basic things that are civil, such as guardianship,” She noted,
“Recently, I was able to connect a Kemmerer resident with Legal Aid so that he could establish a guardianship for a family member.”

Legal Aid of Wyoming can be contacted on Facebook or www.lawyoming.org/