The CLC In Action – A Few Examples

A public school custodial worker was separated from her husband who suffered from alcohol dementia among other things. For years, his wife had struggled to help him with his finances and to care for himself. One night he burned himself horribly and was hospitalized for months. With the help of a CLC volunteer, the wife filed for and was granted conservatorship. She was then able to arrange for her husband to live in a supervised care home with safeguards for his retirement monies. Another CLC volunteer helped resolve tax problems from the years the husband had refused to pay taxes, resulting in a substantial IRS debt.

A young unmarried father, who was voluntarily paying generous child support, came to CLC for help because the child’s mother was denying him visitation rights. He was referred to Juvenile Court, where be obtained both visitation rights and satisfactory provisions for child support.

A woman came to CLC after living with an abusive husband for 7 years. Once she knew she had an attorney to defend her rights, she found the courage to move into a shelter for abused
women.

An elderly widow, suffering from terminal cancer, was anxious to have a will directing disposition of her modest belongings. She was struggling to decide which friend or neighbor should have her most cherished personal items. A CLC volunteer attorney (himself a cancer survivor) spent almost an hour on the telephone helping this client sort out her thoughts and then drafted a will accordingly. By coincidence, the attorney's wife was already delivering meals to this same lady through MIFA. The attorney and his wife were able to meet at the client's home for signing and witnessing of the will. All of this was accomplished in just a few days.

A patient of the Church Health Center was virtually unable to speak as the result of a stroke. He had signed papers appointing a "girl friend" as representative payee for certain government benefits and perhaps broader powers. He was concerned that the "girl friend" was misusing her authority, and another agency had her removed as payee of the government benefits. Social workers at the Church Health Center saw that their patient was still agitated by a concern that he had given a broader power of attorney to this person. A CLC volunteer lawyer drafted a document revoking the power of attorney and sent it to the client with a letter of explanation. The social workers at Church Health Center helped get it signed.