Marge paid $50 per month toward a previous tax balance for years, even though her only sources of income were SSI, food stamps, and housing assistance. She thought she had finally made the last payment when the IRS sent her a new bill, including penalties and interest, which brought the balance back to $700. Marge…
Jack, an elderly man with severe memory problems, first contacted our Joplin Legal Aid office for help with a housing issue. Jack had allowed an individual to live with him rent-free on the condition the tenant would manage Jack’s money and pay his bills. What Jack did not know was that the tenant was stealing…
Sara, a 24 year old woman, had been struggling with mental illness since her teens. Her struggle with mental illness had caused her to be brought in to police custody on criminal charges. While in custody a Legal Aid attorney met with Sara and believed she was displaying signs of mental illness. The attorney presented…
Beth came to Legal Aid because she was struggling to have her Housing Choice Voucher processed by the Housing Authority of Kansas City
Our new address is 4001 Blue Parkway, Suite 300
In December 2015, a participating neighborhood association under Legal Aid’s Adopt-A-Neighborhood Project (AAN), approached the AAN team about a problem property in the neighborhood. AAN investigated the conditions of the property, determined it was eligible for the Abandoned Housing Act, and assisted the neighborhood association in vetting a local community partner in Kansas City to…
Ted applied for Medicaid and his claim was denied after an administrative hearing. Legal Aid staff filed an appeal on his behalf, which was sustained, in part, because it was clear from the hearing decision that the hearing officer had simply failed to examine a good part of the over-600 pages of medical evidence in…
Maria contacted Legal Aid after she received an audit notice from the IRS regarding her 2013 tax return. She had never received a notice from the IRS before and only hoped she had not inadvertently done something wrong by claiming her grandchildren on her tax return. Maria was especially nervous because she did not have…
Teresa came to Legal Aid in a desperate moment. After faithfully paying her mortgage for years, she fell behind following the loss of her husband’s income. Threatened with foreclosure, she feared losing the home she had worked so hard to maintain. But with the help of her Legal Aid attorney, everything changed. By accessing refunds…
Gloria contacted Legal Aid’s Warrensburg office on behalf of her friend Carla, who had severe mental disabilities and was in need of emergency treatment for cancer. Due to her disabilities, Carla’s doctors would not provide the appropriate treatment that she required until she had a guardian. Carla’s husband Harold did not have the capacity to…
