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In Memoriam
In memory of Edna Fairbanks-Williams, June 13, 1932 - May 10, 2010.
http://vimeo.com/19837928
Edna Fairbanks-Williams was never afraid to speak her mind, especially when it came to issues that were unfair to women, poor people, or the powerless. Edna Fairbanks-Williams served as the President of the Vermont Low-Income Advocacy Council for many years. She was also a longtime board member for Vermont Legal Aid, Law Line of Vermont, Vermont Dental Care Programs for Children, the Vermont Tobacco Evaluation and Review Board, and the Legal Services Corporation. She was advisor to the Governor's Commission on Women.
On May 10, 2010, the people of Vermont lost an important anti-poverty advocate. Who will stand up for poor people in Vermont and advocate for low-income issues?
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April is Fair Housing Month
It's spring! Silence has been replaced by rushing water, singing birds, and the occasional peeps. With spring also comes the annual moving homes season for both renters and buyers. It's a good time to reflect on the diversity of our communities and on accessibility and housing choice for all.
Integrated communities were a central tenet of the civil rights movement. Without integrated communities, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. believed there would never be race equality. We need to live with, grow up with, and make community with each other to know each other and overcome centuries of separate and unequal. Since the 1966 open housing marches in Chicago, Dr. King's name has been closely associated with the fair housing legislation. From 1966-1967, Congress regularly considered the fair housing bill but failed to garner a strong enough majority for its passage. Passage of the Fair Housing Act only came after Dr. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968.
Vermont offers small communities, neighborliness, and the kind of small town life that we love and that many others envy. Let's make this spring season of renewal and growth to include everyone in our little slice of utopia.
If you or someone you know believes that he has been discriminated against in housing, please call us. We investigate housing discrimination, give legal advice, and represent victims of housing discrimination.
If you would like to volunteer with us as a civil rights investigator or in another capacity, please also give us a call.
Vermont Legal Aid. We can help.
(800) 889-2047 |
Tax Refunds
It's tax time again, and unfortunately we have been getting many calls from people whose tax refund never arrived. Federal tax refunds can be offset against certain debts. Tax debts, child support, and government-backed student loans are the most common.
For non-IRS debts, this is how it works: Qualified agencies such as the federal Department of Education send an offset request to the Treasury Offset Program (TOP). Then, TOP seizes any federal tax refunds, and sends the money to the requesting agency. The IRS is not involved, and does not have any authority to stop a TOP offset. The taxpayer will receive a notice in the mail that their refund was seized. The notice will say which agency took the refund.
People can find out if they have any debts in TOP by calling (800) 304-3107; TDD (866) 297-0517. For advocates, an authorization form is available on the TOP website, http://fmsp.treas.gov/debt/top.html.
When a tax refund is seized, the options depend on which agency requested the offset. Clients will need to contact the specific agency that requested the offset.
Married couples filing a joint return may want to check to see if one spouse has debt in TOP. If only one spouse is liable for the debt, you can protect part of the tax refund. For more information on this, search www.irs.gov for "injured spouse."
Free help for IRS problems is available at Vermont Legal Aid's Low Income Taxpayer Project (800-747-5022), and at the Central Vermont Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (800-639-1053). Clients under 250% of the federal poverty level are eligible for tax help.
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Court Form Preparation
The Vermont Judiciary and Legal Services Law Line of Vermont have recently launched a new interactive program to help self represented litigants fill out court forms. It's called CourtFormPrep- Vermont Court Forms made easy!
The program uses A2J Author (A2J = Access 2 Justice) to walk the user through the forms, using plain English and simple questions to gather the information needed. It puts all the information together in the right place using a program called HotDocs, adds simple directions for filing, tells the user to print, and voila! They're done. This program will be a huge help both to those representing themselves as well as those who have attorneys for a limited appearance.
Interviews available are:
· Filing for and responding to a divorce, civil union dissolution, and legal separation
· Filing for Parentage
· Filing a motion to modify or enforce child support
· and filling out the Financial Affidavits- 813A and 813B
Check it out! Links to this program can be found on the Vermont Judiciary Website and at www.vtlawhelp.org/CourtFormPrep. This is a new program so feedback is always welcome and appreciated.
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Education News
Use of Restraint & Seclusion in Schools
At the beginning of the next school year, all Vermont schools will have rules they must follow when dealing with students with behavior problems. The rules do three things. They forbid or strictly limit the use of some types of restraint and seclusion. They require schools to collect and report certain information to parents, superintendents and the Department of Education whenever restraint or seclusion is used. And they require training of school staff in positive strategies that can be used instead of restraint and seclusion.
Graduation
Most students graduate after four years in high school. Some have disabilities and need more services before graduating. In the past, if they graduate with their classmates, they lose their right to these services. So, students had to choose between graduation with their class and continued services. But, a new law was passed that allows a student with a disability to participate in all senior year activities and graduation ceremonies without receiving a diploma. This allows them to be with their classmates and to continue to receive services they need before leaving school.
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Child Support Payors
Laura Bierley of Legal Services Law Line of Vermont recently won a victory for disabled parents in the Vermont Supreme Court. In the unanimous decision, the Vermont Supreme Court held that the Office of Child Support (OCS) must credit disabled parents' child support arrearage when their children receive retroactive, lump sum, dependent benefits. Disabled parents who have not yet been found eligible for SSI or SSDI disability benefits face a Catch 22 situation. They can't work because of their disability and they can't pay child support because they can't work. In the meantime, the custodial parents need for support continues, so the past due amount of child support the disabled, non-custodial parent owes and surcharges keeps adding up. Often a long time passes between the disabled parent's application for benefits and the receipt of social security disability insurance benefits. When the Social Security Administration does decide to award disability benefits, often both the disabled parent and his or her children will receive a lump sum benefit to cover the time between the date the applicant was actually disabled and when the benefits began. It is this lump sum payment that the Court determined must be credited towards the arrearage that accumulated during the time the parent became disabled and SSDI was finally awarded. With this decision, Vermont joins the majority of states which allow lump sum retroactive awards to be credited towards arrears.
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David Santos of Legal Services Law Line of Vermont helped a man preserve his home. The client invested more than $20,000 dollars in improvements to the house he rented from his parents, who promised that some day he would inherit the house. The parents' guardian tried to evict him. The son countersued. After three years of litigation his claims were vindicated. He agreed to transfer his right to the home eventually, return for a payment that covered more than his costs.
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Legal Aid and Law Line Online
Check us out on the web at www.vtlegalaid.org
Our legal education website, www.vtlawhelp.org
provides information about Vermont laws, fillable legal forms, generic court documents, and links to laws and legal resources.
Vermont Legal Aid. We can help.
(800) 889-2047 |
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