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By Tonya Sams
Money issues can cause an enormous amount of stress and fear. Concerns about money can determine housing choices, whether or not basic needs are met, a person’s quality of life, and more. Money stressors not only include the size of a paycheck or being in debt, but also employment and unemployment issues, foreclosures, estate planning, taxes, and bankruptcy. The Economic Justice group at The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland helps clients navigate the waters of difficult legal financial woes.
“The Economic Justice Group provides direct representation for clients needing legal assistance related to money and advocates for systemic change that will result in greater economic stability for our client community,” said Barbara Barreno-Paschall, senior attorney in the Economic Justice group. “The five legal areas that the Economic Justice group focuses on are employment, consumer, tax, bankruptcy, and estate planning.”
When assisting with employment issues, economic justice attorneys help clients remove barriers to employment such as sealing criminal records or applying for a Certification of Qualification for Employment or CQE (part of an Ohio law that helps people with criminal records obtain employment), sealing and expunging juvenile records, and employment discrimination.
Clients experiencing consumer legal issues are assisted with mortgage and property tax foreclosure, debt collection lawsuits, car repossessions, student loans, payday loans, auto title loans, and medical or nursing home collection.
Economic Justice attorneys also help clients settle disputes with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) about personal federal income taxes and file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection. They also help with estate planning, including helping clients with wills and clearing tangled property titles.
There is one area of law where the Economic Justice group receives the most requests for assistance.
“Historically, we get a huge number of requests for bankruptcy assistance. We saw a drop off during the pandemic when debt collection was paused, but our bankruptcy numbers have been increasing over the last year,” Barreno-Paschall said. “Individuals who have low income often find themselves in financial situations in which they have accumulated debt that they are unable to pay off, no matter how much they would like to do so.”
The state of the economy can have a huge impact on bankruptcy cases.
“As prices have risen due to changing economic conditions, it has become harder for our client community to keep up with increased living expenses.
This would include housing costs, transportation, and food, when their wages are not increasing at the same rate, or when they are on a fixed income such as Social Security,” Barreno-Paschall said. “For many Americans, they are one car accident or health emergency away from not being able to pay their bills each month because they have not been able to save due to increased costs and stagnant wages.”
The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland serves residents of Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, and Lorain counties. To get help with financial legal issues, call Legal Aid’s Economic Justice infoline at 216-861-5899, or seek help online at www.lasclev.org.
Tonya Sams is a Development & Communications Manager at The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland.
