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When you need a lawyer and can’t pay
For anyone in the United States with a legal problem and no money for a lawyer, and for the people helping them. Where free legal aid is, what to do with court papers, who to call about a home, a job, a debt, a family or an immigration case, and the words to say when you call. You don’t need to know the law to take the first step.
Right now
- In danger? Call 911. Not safe at home: the National Domestic Violence Hotline, 1-800-799-7233, any hour.
- Holding court papers? Find the date on them. Answer by that date and go to court, even if you have no lawyer yet.
- Need the legal aid office for your area? Call 211 and ask. Free and confidential.
- Too much to bear? Call or text 988, any hour.
More help
- Nowhere to stay, or facing eviction? When you need a place to stay.
- Bills, benefits and debt collectors? When the money runs out.
- Lost the papers that prove who you are? When your ID is gone.
- Looking for work with a record? The Fair Chance Job Kit.
- A letter, call or website asking for money? Is this a scam?
- Everything feels too big to start? One step at a time.
- Might not have signal? Save our tools on your phone.
- All our free tools and Get help now.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). The facts come from the government’s own pages (USAGov, the Legal Services Corporation, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal courts and the Justice Department’s immigration court office), and the phone numbers were checked on those pages on September 30 and October 1, 2026. Two of the sites we link to (the American Bar Association’s directory of law school programs and the Pension Rights Center) and the USCIS page on finding legal services would not open for our checker, so for those we give the links USAGov gives and say only what USAGov says. Rules and deadlines change, so check with the court or with legal aid. This page saves nothing: no account, no cookies, nothing you tick is stored or sent, and no analytics (privacy). Scarlet Beast is not a government agency, a court or a legal service. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].