Need legal help with housing, wills? These Stanislaus County resources are available
As concerns over housing rights, domestic violence and conservatorship arise amid the coronavirus pandemic, Stanislaus County residents can turn to free legal services for help.
Residents can contact the Stanislaus County Law Library and Superior Court Self-Help Center for legal forms, instructions and other resources via email, phone or live chat.
Issues the law library can help with include how to write a will or file a conservatorship for people who cannot take care of themselves or their personal finances, said director Jan Schmidt. Members of the public can ask a librarian where to start in an email to library@stanlaw.org or in the website’s live chat, then receive links to the necessary documents and instructions, some of which are in video format.
“We cannot give legal advice or answer specific legal questions, but what we can do is connect people to trustworthy, timely legal information at the level they need it,” Schmidt said in an email to The Bee.
The public can also access other online legal databases on the library’s website, Schmidt said, including resources on housing rights, employer obligations, employee rights, statutory powers of attorney and durable powers of attorney for health care.
Since closing its physical office two weeks ago, Schmidt said, the library has seen an uptick in questions related to wills, conservatorships and domestic violence, which experts say can be exacerbated during stay-at-home orders. Temporary emergency orders for domestic violence and requests for temporary conservatorship are among the only matters that will be heard in Stanislaus Superior Court during the pandemic.
The Superior Court’s Self-Help Center is also providing remote assistance with family law, civil, small-claims and landlord-tenant cases Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The center’s staff can help the public fill out court forms, answer questions on court processes and refer people to other resources.
Julie Dodge, the managing self-help attorney, recommends emailing self.help@stanct.org so staff can send links to online form generation programs or instructions. While the public can also call the center at 209-548-3267, technical difficulties are causing a backlog in returning calls, Dodge said in an email to The Bee.
Other Modesto-area organizations offer legal aid
Local organizations offering legal help during the COVID-19 outbreak include:
- Haven Women’s Center of Stanislaus: For emergency help, call the 24-hour crisis line at 209-577-5980. For counseling, case management and restraining order assistance, call 209-779-4459 between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. or visit the Haven Women’s Center website for more information.
- Senior Advocacy Network - Senior Law Project: For senior emergency services, call 209-577-3814 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday.
- Project Sentinel, Stanislaus County Mediation Center: For help with tenant-landlord dispute resolution, call 209-236-1577 or visit the Project Sentinel website.
Other legal services can be found on the Stanislaus County 211 website.
This story was originally published April 3, 2020 at 10:29 AM.
