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How We Can Help

Vermont Legal Aid and Legal Services Vermont work together to provide free civil (not criminal) legal help to low-income people who live in Vermont. Our services are free.

Legal Services Vermont screens all requests for legal help. If we can help with a legal problem, we will refer you to lawyers and advocates at Vermont Legal Aid or Legal Services Vermont. We also might refer you to other programs. 

Please contact us to find out if we can help you. We may be able to give you advice. We may be able to tell you where to find information to help you represent yourself in court.

We can’t help everyone who needs help. We may not be able to help you based on your income. We do not have enough lawyers to help everyone who asks us.

Problems we cannot help with: We can’t help you with traffic violations. We can’t help you with most personal injury cases, workers compensation, and real estate law. We can’t help you if you are a landlord with a tenant problem. We also can’t defend you in a criminal case or if you are a defendant in a Relief from Abuse case. (However, we can help if you need legal help due to being a victim of crime or abuse.)

How to get help

  1. Use the Legal Help Tool. Use our anonymous guide to finding legal information and fill out a form to ask for legal advice on problems that we might help with.
  2. Explore our web pages. Choose from the menu of legal and health care topics.
  3. Contact us and leave a message. Leave a message on our legal helpline at 1-800-889-2047 during these hours:
  • Monday: 8 - 1
  • Tuesday: 12:30 - 7
  • Wednesday: 8 - 1
  • Thursday: 12:30 - 7
  • Friday: 8 - 1

Or fill out our Legal Help Request Form at any time.

UPDATE: Callbacks within about 14 days.

We currently have a lot of requests for legal help. If you contact us today, most people should expect a call from us within about 14 days. We’re returning calls as fast as we can.

  • Please look at the information on our website at VTLawHelp.org to see if your questions are answered here.
  • If you have an urgent problem, please give us as much detail as possible, including important dates and deadlines.
  • Please do not leave a second message.
  • Look for a call back from a phone number that you may not recognize! Your caller ID might say Legal Services, VT Legal Aid, 802-503-0028 or 1-800-889-2047.

We will call you back during regular business hours as soon as we can.

When you leave a message or use the online form:

  • Tell us your name and phone number.
  • Tell us the safest way to reach you and whether we can leave a message or send an email.
  • Tell us the best time to reach you. We make callbacks from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, except holidays.
  • Give us a short description of the problem. Let us know if it’s an emergency.
  • Let us know if you received paperwork or court papers and what the dates are on those documents.
  • Keep those documents nearby so we can talk about them when we call you back.

We may not be able to call you back right away, so don't wait until the last minute to contact us about an emergency!

What if you don’t speak English?

العربية / Arabic

Bosanski / Bosnian

မြန်မာစာ / Burmese

Español / Spanish

Français / French

Ikirundi / Kirundi

Kiswahili / Swahili

Mai-Mai / Maay Maay

नेपाली/ Nepali

Soomaali / Somali

Tiếng Việt / Vietnamese

If you don’t speak English, ask us for an interpreter. We will provide an interpreter for free.

American Sign Language video with narrator and closed captions 

Go to descriptive transcript.

 

Updated: Sep 26, 2022