Civil legal services we provide - Community Legal Services

Community Legal Services can assist with the following types of civil legal issues:

Housing Law

Eviction defense, public/subsidized housing issues, forcing landlords to make necessary safety repairs (such as air conditioning), and foreclosure.

Family Law

Divorce, paternity, and guardianship cases, with priority placed on matters involving domestic violence or child abuse.

Consumer Rights

Debt collection defense, contract violations with a priority to solar panel and car issues (repair and sales), and federal tax debt.

Public Benefits

Appeals for overpayments, terminations, or denials of Unemployment, Nutrition Assistance, AHCCCS, Social Security, and cash assistance.

Employment Law

Unpaid wages, barriers to employment such as criminal conviction set-asides and marijuana conviction expungements, and farmworker issues.

Community Legal Services (CLS) helps people with civil law matters.

The difference between civil and criminal law:

Civil law involves legal disputes between individuals, organizations, or government entities. These matters often include housing issues (eviction or foreclosure), family law matters (divorce or custody), or consumer disputes (debt collection). Civil law can also cover appeals related to public benefits and certain post-conviction relief, such as expungements or the setting aside of criminal records, in civil court.

Criminal law, by contrast, applies when someone is accused of breaking the law—such as in cases of assault, robbery, arson, or other crimes. These cases are prosecuted by the government, and if someone is found guilty, they may face penalties like jail time or fines. After a person is arrested and charged, their case goes through criminal court. Community Legal Services does not assist with criminal cases or with matters involving Department of Motor Vehicles tickets or fines.

What Happens in Civil Court?

In civil court, one person sues (files a case) against another person because of a dispute or problem between them. A business or agency can also file a case in civil court or be sued in civil court. If someone loses a case in civil court, that person may be ordered to pay money to the other side or return property, but that person does not go to jail if they lose the case.

What Kinds of Cases do Civil Courts Handle?

Civil court cases can be about:

money and debts
property
housing – such as eviction or foreclosure
marriage and children – such as divorce, child custody, or guardianship
an injury – such as from a car accident, medical malpractice or environmental harm (CLS does not assist with personal injury)

Administrative or government agencies also have hearings to handle civil cases. These cases can be about:

the denial of public benefits such as Nutrition Assistance (formerly Food Stamps), AHCCCS or Cash Assistance
Unemployment hearings and Workers Compensation
Social Security and SSI benefits
discrimination and civil rights violations

How do I Win My Case in Civil Court?

To win in civil court, you must prove your case by the “preponderance of evidence”.

I Cannot Afford a Lawyer for My Civil Court Case. What Can I Do?

Contact the legal services (sometimes called legal aid) organization, or other non-profit agencies that provide free or reduced fee legal help in your county or city. Community Legal Services is one such organization in Arizona providing free legal services in some types of civil cases to qualifying individuals.
Legal services organizations usually help with:

domestic violence
family law – divorce, child custody and guardianship
housing – eviction, foreclosure, Fair Housing Act violations, bad living conditions
public benefits – Nutrition Assistance, AHCCCS, SSI, Veterans, Social Security and Cash Assistance
consumer problems – debt collections and bankruptcy
employment problems – wages and discrimination

Contact the Modest Means Project (866-637-5341). The Project provides low-cost legal assistance to individuals who do not qualify for free legal services, but cannot afford the expertise of attorneys at the standard rate. The Modest Means Project assists individuals in a one-hour meeting for a fee of $75. Additional services may be offered by the attorney but they must maintain the rate of $75 per hour. The attorneys working with the Project may provide services in a wider range of legal areas than legal services programs are able to.

To find other legal service organizations and/or to apply for free or low cost services in Arizona, go to www.azlawhelp.org. To find legal service organizations in other states go to www.lawhelp.org or www.lsc.gov and you can search by city, state and zip code.

The Maricopa County Bar Association (602-257-4434) and the Pima County Bar Association (520-623-4625) offer fee based Lawyer Referral Services for residents of those counties.

Disclaimer

This guide is for general information purposes only. The information it contains is not legal advice. Legal advice is dependent upon the specific circumstances of each situation and laws that vary from state to state. To find more local resources, visit www.LawHelp.org and select your state.

This guide adapted from: The Differences between Criminal Court and Civil Court, which was authored by the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York.