Who Is Eligible For Help
Neighborhood Eligibility
South Brooklyn Legal Services provides free legal help in civil cases to low-income Brooklyn residents. We serve people living in zip codes 11201, 11203, 11205, 11209, 11210, 11214, 11215, 11217, 11218, 11220, 11223, 11224, 11226, 11228, 11229, 11230, 11231, 11232, 11234, and 11238 with some exceptions.
Income Eligibility
In order to receive help from South Brooklyn Legal Services, you must also meet our income eligibility guidelines. Please consult the table below for the maximum eligible incomes based on family size.
| Family Size | Gross Annual Income | Gross Weekly Income |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $13,000 | $250 |
| 2 | $17,500 | $337 |
| 3 | $22,000 | $423 |
| 4 | $26,500 | $510 |
| 5 | $31,000 | $596 |
| 6 | $35,500 | $682 |
| 7 | $40,000 | $769 |
| 8 | $44,500 | $856 |
| Each additional | $4,500 | $87 |
Some people are eligible for help even if their income is over the limits because they have special problems such as high medical bills or debts. We are also sometimes able to take cases for which our funders have set higher eligibility guidelines.
Even financially eligible people cannot get representation from Legal Services offices in cases which a private attorney would take without a fee in advance, such as car accident or worker’s compensation cases.
If you think you may be eligible for our services, please click here to find out how to contact the people at SBLS who deal with your problem.
If you do not live in these zip codes or are otherwise ineligible, click here and scroll down to “Other Legal Aid Offices” for a list of other places to get help.
Unfortunately, while we wish it were not the case, due to lack of resources SBLS cannot guarantee help to every eligible person who seeks assistance.
We do our best to take the cases in which we can make the most difference for our clients and for low-income people in Brooklyn. If you think you have been denied help wrongly or have any other complaint about how you have been treated at SBLS, please contact our project director, Chip Gray, at 718-237-5500 to file a complaint.
The Child Care Network Support Project helps home-based child care providers and their networks to start and run their businesses successfully. People seeking help getting child care for their children, please contact Government Benefits.
...more>We help clients deal with debt and banking problems. We focus in particular on frozen bank accounts and student loans.
For foreclosure or mortgage problems, contact our Foreclosure Prevention Project.
...more>We assist clients with unemployment insurance and other employment-related problems. We focus in particular on the re-entry problems of ex-offenders.
...more>We provide comprehensive legal help to victims of domestic violence, including undocumented victims. We are part of the Brooklyn Family Justice Center (FJC) at the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, which provides walk-in legal and social services assistance to domestic violence victims.
...more>The Foreclosure Prevention Project provides advice and representation to people threatened with loss of their homes due to predatory lending. In addition to providing advice and litigating cases in court, we are sometimes able to help clients negotiate better financial arrangements.
...more>Through the Single Stop program, we advise clients with respect to public assistance, food stamp, Medicaid, child care, and other benefits problems.
...more>The HIV Project provides legal help to HIV+ people in all the other areas handled by SBLS, plus wills and related matters.
...more>We provide legal advice and representation to tenants with a wide range of housing problems, including non-payment and holdover evictions cases, illegal evictions, and bad conditions. We work with tenants in public housing and receiving Section 8 benefits as well as those in private housing. We represent groups and tenants with disabilities.
...more>The Pension Benefits Unit is the home of the Mid-Atlantic Pension Counseling Project, which was formerly part of Legal Services for the Elderly. The project provides information and counseling to workers and their dependents who are having difficulty finding out about pension benefits that might be owed to them or who believe that they might not be receiving benefits that are owed to them
...more>Through the Single Stop program, SBLS helps parents and students get appropriate special education services.
...more>The Supplemental Security Income Unit helps people get SSI benefits. It also assists clients with disabilities get access to transportation and other public facilities.
...more>The Brooklyn Low-Income Tax Clinic helps resolve tax problems, especially those involving the Earned Income Tax Credit.
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