Getting legal assistance with Supplemental Security Income (SSI), food stamps, foreclosures, debt collection, healthcare, and other issues can be challenging for low-income families and individuals.
"These issues can be brief in terms of how long they impact someone, but they really are impactful to people's lives and their ability to thrive and move through their life confidently and competently," says West Tennessee Legal Services Pro Bono Staff Attorney Claudia Williams Hyman.
Hyman and Access to Justice Chair at the Memphis Bar Association, Constance Brown, join host Eric Barnes for this week's WKNO/Channel 10 Behind the Headlines to discuss the local legal needs and challenges of low-income families and individuals.
Brown discusses the critical local need for "citizens to take estate planning seriously—you need a will, power of attorney, [and] healthcare directives." Brown adds that "anything can happen . . . You don't want people to be concerned about how we are going to distribute property when we are supposed to be planning a funeral—when we are supposed to grieve."
Additionally, guests discuss how organizations like theirs work to legally educate, assist, support, and advocate for people who may be lacking financial resources.
