Legal Hotline for Texans – Texas Legal Services Center

Office Hours

9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Monday – Friday

Except on holidays

Intake Guidelines 

To apply for services call 800-622-2520, option 3, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

If they do not answer, leave a message and an intake specialist will return your call as soon as possible.

Please leave your name, phone number (including area code), and a brief description of your situation.

Also, please let them know if you have a deadline coming up with the next week to two weeks.

They will return your call as quickly as possible.

Services Provided

The Legal Hotline for Texans answers questions free of charge in many areas of law, including but not limited to:

• Kincare – relatives raising minor children as parents
• Advance directives and power of attorney
• Guardianship – adult and minor guardianship
• Home ownership and real property issues
• Public benefits – TANF, SS, SNAP, SSDI, SSI, unemployment compensation, VA benefits, QIT
• Private landlord/tenant Issues (for the tenant)
• Economic security – age discrimination in employment, spousal maintenance (alimony), state and local income maintenance, other income maintenance
• Medicaid and Medicare appeals
• Consumer issues (bankruptcy and debtors rights)
• Foreclosure/eviction – mortgage foreclosures, mortgage predatory lending practices or other housing
• Long-term care – Medicaid/Medicare LTC, home & community, private health insurance for LTC, LTC facility issues, state & local health caregiver LTC

It does not provide full representation.

Eligibility Guidelines

Persons eligible for services are:

• Texans 60 years of age or older or
• Medicare recipients of any age who are calling about a Medicare matter.

If a person is not eligible for the services of the Legal Hotline for Texans but is eligible for another program of Texas Legal Services Center, the request for service will be forwarded to that other program within Texas Legal Services Center. Please visit the website at www.tlsc.org/legalhotline.

What if I have an emergency?

Examples of urgent matters include but are not limited to:

• Danger of wage garnishment within seven (7) days
• Notice of Sale within twenty-one (21) days in a foreclosure matter
• Any hearing within seven (7) days of the hearing
• Homeless applicants
• Imminent or actual termination of utilities
• Family violence or child abuse/neglect within the past seven (7) days {including threats made with a weapon}
• Improper residential lockout (or when writ of re-entry has been denied)
• Served with lawsuit and deadline within ten (10) days
• Sheriff’s notice to vacate residential premises
• Termination of benefits or medically necessary healthcare within seven (7) days

Please contact the hotline right away. Make sure to let the intake worker know about any urgent deadlines. All conversations are confidential.