Metroplex Veterans Legal Services is conducting the first Veteran’s Child Support Modification Clinic in Houston

Metroplex Veterans Legal Services is conducting the first Veteran’s Child Support Modification Clinic in Houston, Texas.  This clinic is a partnership with the HEROES program of the Attorney General of Texas, and Metroplex Veterans Legal Services. The Attorney General of Texas’ Child Support Division HEROES program provides veterans and their dependants with enhanced, personalized assistance in addressing child support matters.   The Veterans Child Support Modification Clinic will provide active duty servicemembers and Veterans with pro bono legal consultations with legal professionals with the expertise to correctly identify veterans’ specific modification issues and help them understand the processes and challenges in addressing them.   Most importantly, the clinic will gave each veteran the opportunity to be heard, and provided explanations to transform a confusing and often emotionally charged legal issue into an understandable and manageable task.

“The unmet legal needs of Veterans are one of the root causes of homelessness,” said Former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “Working with partners in law schools and the legal community, we can improve the lives of these vulnerable Veterans.”  The needs of Veterans are on-going throughout the year, not just on one day every year.

The clinic will be held on March 6, 2018, at 1:30 pm, at United Way Community Resource Center.  The address is 50 Waugh Drive Houston, Texas 77007.  The Veterans and active duty servicemembers must register on-line in advance of the clinic at westtexas.veteranslegalservices.us.

Metroplex Veterans Legal Services offers single issue legal clinics to Veterans and active duty servicemembers on a pro bono basis.  Our legal clinics focus on removing the legal barriers to employment for Veterans, and assisting disabled Veterans to obtain military disability benefits.  The goal of our clinics is to provide free legal counsel and advice to low income, unemployed, homeless, disabled, elderly, or at risk for homelessness Veterans for outstanding traffic tickets, warrants from tickets, and driver’s license issues caused by tickets; child support modification; expunction of criminal arrests; and combat related special compensation. These unpaid traffic tickets, and delinquent child support can lead to suspended driver’s licenses, which can lead to barriers for these Veterans to obtain employment.

The pro bono legal resources for Veterans have been very scarce prior to the commencement of our program. According to a recent Department of Veterans Affairs survey, legal issues account for four of the top ten unmet needs of homeless Veterans.  The legal unmet needs are: legal counsel for the issues of foreclosure/eviction, child support, and restoring driver’s licenses, and legal assistance for warrants and fines.  Our legal clinics address three of these four unmet legal needs, for child support modification, restoring driver’s licenses, and legal assistance for warrants and fines.