Washington State

Office of the Attorney General

Attorney General

Bob Ferguson

Do You Have a Legal Problem?

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The Office of Military and Veteran Legal Assistance (OMVLA) helps veterans, service members, and their families who have non-criminal legal problems. We may help you find a free lawyer. If we find you a free lawyer, the lawyer will not go to court with you. We may also connect you with community groups or give you information about your legal rights.

We cannot find you a lawyer if you have a deadline or hearing in the next 2 weeks. Call the CLEAR line at 1-888-201-1014. You may have to call a few times to get through. CLEAR is not part of OMVLA. It is part of Northwest Justice Project (NJP). NJP provides free legal help to people in Washington. If you have a question about what to do when you go to court, please review this guide: Getting ready for a court hearing or trial | WashingtonLawHelp.org.

Can We Help You?

We can help you if:

  1. Your home or military duty station is in Washington State. If you do not live in Washington, look at LawHelp.org to find help near you.

  2. You are a veteran, service member, or their family member. This means that:

    You are serving in the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines, Navy, or Space Force. You can get help if you are on Active Duty, or if you are in the Reserves or National Guard.
    OR
    You have ever served in the US military.
    OR
    You are married to someone who is serving or served in the US military.
    OR
    You are the surviving spouse of someone who served in the US military.
    OR
    You are under the age of 21 and your parent served or is serving in the US military.

  3. You need help with a non-criminal legal problem in Washington State, like a disagreement with your landlord, a family law problem, or a wills and trusts issue.

  4. Your income is under 4 times the federal poverty level. For one person, your monthly income can be up to $4,860. For a family of four, your monthly income can be up to $10,000.

We Cannot Help You If:

  • You need help with a criminal legal problem.
  • You do not live in Washington State (even if your legal problem is in Washington).
  • Your legal problem is in a different state (even if you live in Washington).
  • You want someone to go to court for you or represent you.

The Attorney General's Office is a government agency. This means that the information you share with us may be subject to public viewing under the Washington State Public Records Act. We suggest that you limit how much you share with us. Tell us only what is necessary to understand the nature of your legal problem.

What Happens Next?

We will:
  1. Read the form you sent us.
  2. Contact you if we have questions. Our emails might go to your spam or junk folder.
  3. Update you within 2 weeks. We might need more time to find you help.
You should keep looking for other services in case we cannot give you the help you need.

OMVLA staff cannot give you advice (tell you what to do) about your legal problem. We try to find a free lawyer or other resource to help you. Not everyone will get help from a lawyer. We might also:

  • Connect you with a community group or nonprofit that might be able to help.
  • Give you guides about how to solve the legal problem on your own.

Help from a Lawyer

Once we ask a lawyer to help you, the lawyer will look at your case. They decide if they can help you and how much. You do not have to pay them anything.

The volunteer lawyer might:
  • Give you legal advice.
  • Help you fill out forms or answer questions about legal documents.
  • Give you information about how to solve your problem on your own.

Our lawyers will not go to court with you.

* We need information that has a star next to it.
1 About You




Select Pronoun

2 Can We Help You?
"Household" only includes people that rely on you. It does not include roommates.
Income is any money that comes into your account each month. This includes state benefits, VA disability, Social Security and military retirement. Include your spouse's income if you are married and living together.


Service Member
Former Service Member (Veteran)
Family
Asking for Help for Someone Else
We can't help someone who doesn't want help or who doesn't know you asked for our help. You can ask for our help for someone else if you have the legal rights to do so.
3 Your Legal Problem


Remember, we sometimes have to allow the public to review records under the Public Records Act. Do not tell us more than you need to.
4 More Information (optional)

You do not have to share this information with us.  Please know we collect this information to help us make sure that we are serving all Washingtonians equitably.

Select your gender
Select your race or ethnicity
Select
Select
5 Agreement to Work Together
There are a few things that we need from you so that we can help you. Please reach each of these statements and check the "I Agree" box at the bottom if you agree. We can’t help you if you do not agree with all of these statements.

  • Can We Share Your Information? We share information about your legal problem with community programs and volunteer lawyers who have signed up to help. We do this when we are trying to find someone or somewhere to help you. By checking I Agree, you are giving us permission to share.

  • Will You Be Honest? We know that legal problems are confusing. People might have different ideas about what happened. When you are working with us, tell us the truth from your point of view. If you aren't sure or don't remember the answer to a question we ask you, tell us. By checking I Agree, you are promising to tell us the truth. If you aren't honest, we will have to stop helping you.

  • Will You Communicate With Us? We will keep you updated about what is going on. We need you to keep us updated too. If we can't reach you, we will close your file. Tell us if you got help from somewhere else or if you no longer need our help. By checking I Agree, you are agreeing to reply to our questions. You are also agreeing to tell us immediately if you get help from another group or lawyer.

  • Will You Treat Us with Respect? We will treat you with respect. We will listen to you. We understand you are going through a lot and we will be patient with you. We need you to treat us with respect as well. We cannot help you if you yell or curse at us. We cannot help you if you threaten us. We cannot help you if you make inappropriate comments about others based on their race, accent, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or other personal traits. If you do any of these things, we will stop helping you immediately. By checking I Agree, you are committing to treating us with respect.
If you submit this form, you are confirming that you:
  1. Read the whole form.
  2. Understand that the Attorney General's Office is not your lawyer.
  3. Understand that we can't give you legal advice.
  4. Understand that you may not get a free lawyer from OMVLA.
  5. Understand that if we find a lawyer, they will not go to court with you.
  6. Understand that the information you give us might be subject to public review under the Public Records Act.
I Agree

If you have any questions about this form or want more information, please contact the Attorney General's Office of Military & Veteran Legal Assistance:
Phone: 206-464-6431
Email: OMVLA@atg.wa.gov