Panel on Access to Justice in Montana Highlights Legal Needs of Rural Elders

Legal Service programs around the country have constant challenges in securing adequate funding for operations and I’m often struck by the ingenuity needed to keep programs afloat. I was struck by a recent “Access to Justice” panel report in Montana that highlighted the needs of rural persons, including older persons at or near the poverty line, living in isolated circumstances. Even with pro bono hours contributed by law firms, under-funding remains a serious problem. KTVQ.com from Billings, Montana reported:

One witness, identified only as Vicky, said she fought a two-year battle with Medicare before obtaining a $3,000 scooter that helps her carry on daily life while coping with cerebral palsy. “I didn’t know where to go or what to do,” she said. Vicky was among the lucky few Montanans who get legal help through the Montana Legal Services Association, said Alison Paul, director of the association….

 

Elderly Montanans face similar problems, said Todd Wood, director of the Area II Agency on Aging, which provides services over an area larger than West Virginia. Federal funding for the program has declined in recent years while state funding has slowly increased so that the agency now gets about two-thirds of its funds from the federal government and a third from state government.

 

But those sources account for only $5 million of the agency’s $9 million budget. The rest comes from contributions by clients for such services as meals and transportation. Without those contributions, the program probably would fold within five months, Wood said. He noted that many elderly residents live in deep rural areas, some without electricity or telephones. They often need help with such legal matters as wills, power of attorney and guardianship problems, he said, but they often are unaware of their rights or unable to find help.

 

“Their mailman might be the No. 1 contact in the course of the day,” he said.

 

Providing legal help for seniors is especially critical in Montana, which faces a coming tidal wave of elder care needs, said Gary Connelley, a fulltime pro bono attorney for the Crowley Fleck law firm. By 2020, Montana is expected to be third in the nation in the number of people per capita age 65 or older, he said. But even though Crowley Fleck donated nearly 5,000 hours of free legal help in 2015, Connelley said, it turns away eight or nine of every 10 requests it gets for free legal assistance.

For more read, “Legal Help for Poor,  Disabled Often Hard to Come By.”

For another perspective on the intense consequences for entire families from under-funding of legal services, this time on the criminal justice side of the bar, see the New York Times’ recent article, “In Louisiana, the Poor Lack Legal Defense.”  Are you getting a tax refund this year?  An opportunity to make a tax-deductible contribution to a Legal Aid or Service program near you!