Legal Services
Legal Aid of North Carolina
– Senior Law Project
Protecting rights, providing guidance, and ensuring older adults have access to trusted legal support.
Legal Services
High Country Area Agency on Aging partners with Legal Aid of North Carolina’s Senior Law Project to provide free civil legal help to North Carolinians age 60 and older. Through the Senior Legal Helpline, older adults can access confidential advice, document review, and advocacy tailored to their needs.
Legal Aid prioritizes serving older adults with the greatest social and economic needs, following case acceptance guidelines set by its board of directors and management.
Contact
Legal Aid of North Carolina – Senior Legal Helpline
Available Monday–Friday: 9–11 a.m. & 1–3 p.m.
Call 1-877-579-7562 or apply via the Legal Aid website
If you are under the age of 60, call 1-866-219-5262 for assistance.
Areas of Assistance
The Senior Legal Helpline can help with:
- Life Planning: Wills (for seniors who own their home), Living Wills, Powers of Attorney, Healthcare POA
- Housing: Eviction, foreclosure, Medicaid Estate Recovery, habitability issues, contractor fraud, rent-to-own disputes, foreclosure rescue scams
- Elder Abuse: Physical abuse, financial exploitation, fraud, and scams
- Consumer Issues: Contracts, collections, repossessions
- Benefits: Medicaid/Medicare, SNAP (Food Stamps), Social Security & SSI, Veteran’s Benefits
How the Helpline Works
Lawyers can:
- Answer general legal questions and provide advice specific to your situation.
- Write letters and make phone calls to help resolve problems.
- Review legal documents, clarify issues, and provide options.
- Refer you to a local Legal Aid office or pro bono attorneys if further assistance is needed.
Common Legal Questions
for Older Adults
A will is a binding legal document that lets you specify where your property goes at your death. Any person over the age of 18 of sound mind may make a will.
If someone passes without a will, property is distributed through default rules set by the laws of intestate succession.
A living will is a legal document that allows you to control the decision about whether your life should be prolonged by certain medical procedures if you are suffering from one of three conditions:
1. Incurable or irreversible condition;
2. Unconsciousness, and to a high degree of medical certainty you will not regain consciousness; or
3. Advanced dementia or another condition which results in a substantial loss of cognitive ability and to a high degree of medical certainty the loss is not reversible.
Advanced directives are legal documents that help you and your loved ones make decisions if/when you are unable to do so, including Powers of Attorney, Health Care Powers of Attorney, and Living Wills.
A Power of Attorney is legal document in which you give someone (known as your agent) the legal authority to take certain actions for you regarding financial decisions.
A Durable Power of Attorney, according to the 2018 North Carolina Uniform Power of Attorney Act, goes into effect immediately and remains in effect during incapacity or incompetence. A Springing Power of Attorney is effective only once the person becomes incapacitated or incompetent.
You can give your agent power over any of the following: Real Property; Tangible Personal Property; Stocks and Bonds; Commodities and Options; Banks and Other Financial Institutions; Operation of Entity or Business; Insurance and Annuities; Estates, Trusts, and Other Beneficial Interests; Claims and Litigation; Personal and Family Maintenance; Benefits from Governmental Programs or Civil or Military Service; Retirement Plans; Taxes; All preceding subjects
A Health Care Power of Attorney is a legal document in which you give someone the power to make medical decisions for you if you are not competent or if you are not able to communicate your wishes.
The Health Care Power of Attorney Agent has the ability to make and carry out all health care decisions and mental health decisions for you, unless you limit their ability.