Kansas Bar Association sets up program to give free legal assistance

Daniel Fair
·1 min read

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — The Kansas Bar Association is setting up a program that will help with legal assistance for people who otherwise could not afford it.

Kansas Free Legal Answers is a program that will provide legal assistance to individuals who don’t have access to a lawyer. It’s funded by the Kansas Bar Foundation.

“These are civil cases, really generally any kind of matter that’s noncriminal,” Mitch Biebighauser, an assistant federal public defender, said. “That might be a family dispute, or it could be a proper dispute. It could be a question about a contract. Non-criminal matters are all fair game for consideration.”

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The service is intended to give people advice on how they can settle disputes without having to hire legal services. From the website, here are some of the qualifications for the program.

  • Your income is low for a family the size of yours.

  • The value of your checking account, savings account, stocks or bonds is low.

  • You aren’t in jail or prison.

  • Your legal problem isn’t related to a criminal charge.

  • You don’t already have a lawyer to help you with your legal problem.

  • You are an adult.

Biebighauser said the program is really meant to serve those who cannot afford a lawyer.

“That’s the goal,” Biebighauser said. “Is to serve those people, and we hope that users with a household income of less than 250% of the federal poverty level exceed what other services they might be able to gain.”

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