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Southwestern PA Human Services, Inc.
SPHS Area Agency Office Locations
SPHS Area Agency on Aging:
LEGAL SERVICES FOR THE ELDERLY
The SPHS Area Agency on Aging provides direct and supportive legal services through its Legal Services for the Elderly Program. Legal services are provided to individuals, 60 years of age or older, who reside within the SPHS Area Agency on Aging’s designated service area of Fayette, Greene and Washington Counties.
TYPES OF LEGAL PROBLEMS ADDRESSED:
Legal Services provides assistance for the most common kinds of civil legal problems encountered by older persons:
- Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
- Social Security and Benefits
- Medicare, Medicaid and Related Health Insurance
- Related Benefits
- Sales Contracts
- Credit Purchases
- Home Improvement Contracts
- Debtor Problems
- Bankruptcy
- Landlord and Tenant Actions
- Property Rights
- Support
- Custody and Adoption
- Non-contested Divorce
- Guardianship Defense
- Powers of Attorney
- Wills
- Living Wills
TYPES OF LEGAL SERVICES PROVIDED:
In addition to public and consumer education services in the nature of informative discussions on various legal subjects. other assistance offered by Legal Services includes:
- Consultation and advice
- Attorney representation before district justices, courts and administrative agencies such as the Social Security Administration
- Litigation including appeals to higher courts, and--
- Information, legal research and advocacy in conjunction with other SPHS Area Agency on Aging services in such areas as domiciliary and nursing home care, patient’s rights, and pending state and federal legislation.
LEGAL PROBLEMS NOT REPRESENTED:
The SPHS Area Agency on Aging Legal Services for the Elderly Program DOES NOT provide representation in the following types of cases:
- Any criminal or quasi-criminal matter
- Fee-generating cases, such as those where attorney’s fees are ordinarily taken from the sum of money which the lawyer collects in a lawsuit on behalf of the client (these would include personal injury claims, property damage, etc.)
- Out-of-state actions;
- Other types of legal problems involving a special degree of expertise such as tax or complex trusts; or
- Actions in which the potential recovery to the client does not justify the use of agency resources.
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