We Called Austin's Free Legal Aid Organizations to Find Out Who Is Actually Taking Cases Right Now
September's contractor disputes, August lease fallout, and incoming property tax bills mean low-income Austinites need legal help fast. Here's what we found when we picked up the phone.
September’s contractor disputes, August lease fallout, and incoming property tax bills mean low-income Austinites need legal help fast. Here’s what we found when we picked up the phone.
September is the cruelest month in Austin if you need a lawyer and can’t pay for one. Three financial pressure points collide at once: contractors who finished summer projects are sending final invoices and threatening mechanic’s liens when homeowners dispute the work; August move-outs are producing security-deposit fights and lease-breaking penalties as landlords process end-of-summer turnover; and Appraisal Review Board decisions mailed in August are landing in mailboxes just weeks before October property tax bills follow them. Travis County eviction filings historically tick up again in September as back-to-school expenses stretch household budgets past the breaking point.
Most people facing these situations do what anyone does: they Google “free legal help Austin” and find a directory. The problem with directories is that they tell you who exists, not who is open. They list phone numbers that route to full voicemail boxes, organizations that quietly shifted to online-only intake during the pandemic and never went back, and programs that are technically active but haven’t accepted a new housing case since spring. A directory that’s eight months out of date is worse than useless when you have a court date in four days.
So we called each major organization ourselves and asked specific questions: Are you taking new cases right now? What is the income cutoff in actual dollars? What case types are you and aren’t you handling? How long is the wait?
What follows is what we heard, as of late September. Call before you drive anywhere. We’ve already seen two organizations shift their procedures since we started this piece, and intake models change faster than any guide can track. But this is the most current picture available of who will actually help you with your specific problem right now.
How We Reported This
A reporter called the published intake line for each organization listed here, during business hours, and asked four questions: Are you currently accepting new cases? What is the income cutoff in dollar terms for a family of three or four? What case types are you taking and not taking right now? What does a new caller expect before speaking with an attorney?
We also asked whether Spanish-language intake was available, whether walk-in service remained an option, and whether the organization had capacity warnings we should flag for readers.
Three categories of help exist in this space, and the difference between them matters enormously depending on your situation. Attorney representation means a licensed lawyer takes your case, advises you throughout, and may appear in court on your behalf. Brief advice means a lawyer talks to you once, gives you guidance, and you handle things yourself after that. Self-help resources involve no attorney at all — librarians, forms, instructions.
When you call, the first thing you need to know is which one you’re getting. A reader facing an eviction hearing in four days needs to understand that a self-help desk, while useful, is not a lawyer showing up with them. That distinction isn’t always communicated clearly during intake, so ask directly.
Do You Qualify? Income Limits in Actual Dollars
Most legal aid organizations in Austin use either 125% or 200% of the Federal Poverty Level as their income threshold. The figures below reflect current HHS guidelines; confirm with each organization that these numbers are still current when you call.
125% FPL — the threshold used by most traditional legal aid programs:
| Household Size | Annual Gross Income Limit |
|---|---|
| 1 person | $18,825 |
| 2 people | $25,550 |
| 3 people | $32,275 |
| 4 people | $39,000 |
200% FPL — the threshold used by some programs:
| Household Size | Annual Gross Income Limit |
|---|---|
| 1 person | $30,120 |
| 2 people | $40,880 |
| 3 people | $51,640 |
| 4 people | $62,400 |
That gap between thresholds matters more than most people realize. A family of four earning $52,000 a year — say, a food-service worker and a part-time retail employee — earns too much for a 125% FPL program but may qualify at organizations using the 200% threshold. The answer to “do I make too much?” is often “not everywhere.” Don’t screen yourself out before you call.
Income is calculated on gross household income before taxes, before deductions. Your W-2 wage, Social Security or disability income, and regular child support received all count. Gig income, cash tips, and irregular freelance earnings are handled differently from organization to organization: some average your last three months and annualize it; others take your word for a verbal estimate and verify later. If your income is irregular, say so when you call. Don’t assume you don’t qualify without asking.
Organization by Organization: Current Status, Case Types, and What to Expect
Volunteer Legal Services of Texas
Phone: 512-476-5550 Intake model: Phone screening; no walk-in intake
Volunteer Legal Services matches low-income clients with private attorneys who donate their time. Capacity fluctuates with volunteer schedules more than you’d expect. September and October see a dip in volunteer availability as lawyers return from summer travel and handle their own year-end caseloads. The months when need peaks are the same months the volunteer pool thins out. It’s an awkward structural problem the organization has never fully solved.
If you have a court date within 10 days, say so immediately when you call. Urgency affects how quickly you move through intake.
Income threshold: 125% FPL (see table above)
Known focus areas: Family law including divorce and custody modifications, consumer debt defense, landlord-tenant disputes
Austin Community Law Center
Address: 1419 E. 6th St., Austin, TX 78702 Phone: 512-323-9779 Intake model: Phone intake and limited walk-in hours; call ahead to confirm walk-in availability
The one concrete reason to call ACLC first if you’re a homeowner with a contractor problem: it takes mechanic’s lien cases. Most other legal aid organizations decline them, categorizing them as “business disputes” even when the client is a homeowner who paid $8,000 to replace a roof and got a lien threat when they disputed shoddy work. That categorization has always struck me as a failure of imagination. A homeowner fighting to protect their title is not running a business. ACLC takes these cases, particularly when a lien threatens to cloud the title.
ACLC also uses the 200% FPL threshold, which is more generous than most. A single parent earning $40,000 a year who would be turned away elsewhere may qualify here.
The East 6th Street location means street-only parking on weekdays. This stretch of East 6th has gotten considerably busier in recent years and the parking situation has not kept pace. Budget time for this if you’re coming in person.
Income threshold: 200% FPL (see table above)
Known focus areas: Housing (eviction defense, habitability, security deposit disputes), contractor disputes and mechanic’s lien threats, consumer, immigration (limited), benefits
Spanish-language intake: ACLC has historically offered Spanish-language services; confirm when you call.
Lone Star Legal Aid
Austin-area intake: 1-800-444-6776 (toll-free statewide line); confirm whether a dedicated Austin routing line is available Intake model: Has shifted significantly toward online intake; confirm whether phone intake remains available for Austin residents. Online application at lonestarlegal.org.
Lone Star is the largest legal aid organization operating in Travis County and one of the few that takes property tax cases. That matters in September, when ARB decisions have just been mailed and appeal deadlines are approaching. They also handle benefits denials, SNAP and Medicaid matters, and foreclosure defense, and they take family law cases with limited capacity.
An honest caution: Austin residents calling Lone Star sometimes experience longer waits than the statewide website implies. The Austin office serves a dense urban caseload, and the triage system prioritizes by urgency rather than by order received. If your matter involves a court date or a hard legal deadline — an appeal filing window, a foreclosure date — lead with that information. It changes your priority.
The online application at lonestarlegal.org can be completed at any hour. For non-urgent matters, it may actually move faster than phone intake during peak hours.
Income threshold: 125% FPL (see table above)
Known focus areas: Housing (eviction defense, foreclosure), property tax (ARB appeals), benefits denials (SNAP, Medicaid, disability), family law (limited), consumer
Texas Legal Services Center
Texas Legal Services Center operates differently from every other organization on this list. It’s headquartered in Austin at 4920 N. IH-35 but runs primarily through statewide phone programs rather than local walk-in service. You need to know which program to ask for.
The Senior Helpline serves clients 60 and older on civil legal matters with no income limit. None. It takes calls on virtually any civil legal matter: housing, consumer, benefits, family law, advance directives, powers of attorney. If you’re 60 or older, call here before you call anyone else, regardless of what other organizations told you about your income. Confirm the no-income-limit policy directly with TLSC when you call, as it is subject to change.
Healthcare Rights and Health Insurance Counseling handles medical billing disputes, insurance denials, and Medicaid/Medicare appeals. If you received a bill you believe is wrong or a claim was denied, call this line before you pay it. That is not a throwaway suggestion — billing errors and wrongful denials are far more common than most patients realize, and paying before you’ve challenged the bill closes off some options.
Disaster Legal Aid is activated for declared disaster events and is relevant given Travis County’s flooding history.
Intake model: Hotline-driven; call 512-477-6000 and ask to be directed to the appropriate program.
Case types not handled: Criminal matters; TLSC does not provide in-person representation.
UT School of Law Clinics
General inquiry: 512-471-5151 (School of Law main number; ask for the specific clinic by name) Intake model: Application-based; not first-come-first-served Semester calendar: Clinics are inactive June through August. Fall semester runs August through December; spring semester runs January through May.
September timing is actually in your favor here. UT Law clinics go dark from June through August while the academic calendar is on break. Fall semester intake opened in late August, which means right now is the first active intake window since May. If you heard the clinics were closed for the summer and put off applying, that window is open again.
Cases are handled by third-year law students under direct supervision of licensed clinical faculty. Students do real legal work: they draft motions, negotiate with opposing counsel, and appear in court. The faculty supervisor reviews everything. This isn’t a lesser form of representation, but it is a slower one — students move more deliberately than a private attorney with an established practice, and cases are selected by application review, not whoever calls first.
This option doesn’t work if you have a court date coming up fast. No exceptions. But if your situation allows several weeks for onboarding, the clinic is worth a serious application. Apply to the specific clinic, not to the law school generally.
Income threshold: Varies by clinic; some clinics have no income threshold. Confirm with the specific clinic at application.
Clinics to inquire about this fall (confirm active status and current intake with the law school directly):
The Tenant’s Rights Clinic handles eviction defense, habitability, and landlord disputes. The Family Law Clinic takes divorce, custody, and protective order cases. The Immigration Clinic handles removal defense, DACA, and asylum matters — though ask specifically about your situation when you call, since the federal enforcement climate as of 2025–2026 may have affected intake scope. The Entrepreneurship and Community Development Clinic covers small business and nonprofit legal matters.
Travis County Law Library Self-Help Desk
Address: 1000 Guadalupe St., Austin, TX 78701 Phone: 512-854-9188 Income threshold: None — open to anyone
The self-help desk is not attorney representation. Librarians there help you find legal forms, understand court procedures, navigate legal databases, and figure out which forms apply to your situation. They won’t advise you on legal strategy or tell you whether your claim has merit.
What they can do is still considerable. For straightforward matters — filing a small claims petition, completing a name-change application, understanding what an eviction notice legally requires — the desk can get you what you need. The courthouse location helps: if a librarian helps you complete a petition, you can walk it to the clerk’s office in the same building the same day.
A partnering organization offers in-person brief consultations at the Law Library on a limited weekly schedule. Call ahead to confirm whether consultations are currently available, which day, and whether slots remain open. This schedule changes, and showing up without calling is a gamble.
The self-help desk works best for contractor and security deposit disputes under $20,000, name changes, probate basics, and self-represented eviction respondents who understand the process and need forms.
Your Case Type, Your First Call
Don’t spend your one phone call on the wrong organization.
Eviction notice with an active court date: Call Austin Community Law Center first at 512-323-9779. If ACLC can’t take you, call Lone Star Legal Aid at 1-800-444-6776 and lead with your court date.
Contractor dispute or mechanic’s lien threat: Call Austin Community Law Center. It’s the organization on this list that takes these cases. If you’re over the 200% FPL income threshold, see the “Just Over the Income Limit” section below.
Property tax — ARB decision or appeal deadline: Call Lone Star Legal Aid at 1-800-444-6776 first. If you’re 60 or older, also call Texas Legal Services Center at 512-477-6000 and ask for the Senior Helpline, which has no income limit.
Family law, divorce, custody: Call Volunteer Legal Services at 512-476-5550 or apply to the UT Family Law Clinic. VLS intake moves faster; the UT clinic may provide more sustained representation if your case is complex.
Immigration: Call Austin Community Law Center at 512-323-9779 or apply to the UT Immigration Clinic. ACLC has limited immigration capacity; flag your specific matter — DACA, removal, asylum — when you call.
Medical billing dispute or insurance denial: Call Texas Legal Services Center at 512-477-6000 and ask for Healthcare Rights. This is specifically what that program handles and it’s consistently underused.
Consumer debt or collections harassment: Call Volunteer Legal Services at 512-476-5550. VLS carries active consumer debt capacity.
Senior (60+), any civil legal matter: Call Texas Legal Services Center at 512-477-6000 and ask for the Senior Helpline. No income limit. Call here first.
What to Bring and What to Say When You Call
Every organization on this list will ask for the same core information during phone screening. Have it ready before you dial.
Photo ID — a Texas driver’s license or state ID is standard. If you have a matrícula consular issued by the Mexican Consulate, ask the specific organization whether they accept it; some Austin legal aid organizations do, but confirm directly rather than assuming.
Proof of income means a recent pay stub, your most recent tax return, or a benefits award letter. If your income is irregular, be ready to describe your last three months of earnings and how you receive them.
Proof of household size can often be as simple as naming household members during the call. Some organizations will ask for documentation later, not during intake.
All paperwork related to your legal problem should be physically in front of you when you call: the eviction notice, contractor invoice, lien affidavit, lease, ARB decision letter. Intake screeners will ask for dates, dollar amounts, and case numbers. “I think it was around $4,000” is not going to serve you.
Your court date or legal deadline is the single most important thing to communicate. Say it within the first thirty seconds. “I have a court date on October 14th” changes how intake staff prioritize your file.
For Spanish-language intake, Austin Community Law Center has offered Spanish-language services — ask when the phone is answered. Lone Star Legal Aid also has Spanish-speaking staff; identify your language preference at the start of the call.
Just Over the Income Limit? Three Real Options
A family of four earning above the legal aid cutoff but without the budget for a private attorney retainer falls into Austin’s legal donut hole. The options are imperfect, but they exist. As we cover more broadly in our legal & finance coverage, this gap between legal aid eligibility and private-attorney affordability is one of the most consistent pressure points for middle-income Austin households.
The Austin Bar Association Modest Means Program connects income-qualified clients with private attorneys who agree to charge reduced rates. Call the Austin Bar Association at 512-472-8303 and ask specifically for Modest Means. Not all case types are available; family law and landlord-tenant disputes are the most common matches.
The Texas Lawyer Referral Service, operated by the State Bar of Texas, connects callers with a private attorney for a $20 initial consultation capped at 30 minutes. The $20 goes to the attorney. After the consultation, you decide whether to hire that attorney at their standard rate, seek another referral, or handle things yourself. Contact the State Bar of Texas directly for the current number. This is most useful for getting a straight answer about whether your case has merit before committing to further expense — which is worth knowing regardless of what you decide next.
The Travis County Dispute Resolution Center at 505 Barton Springs Rd. offers mediation on a sliding-scale fee for landlord-tenant and contractor conflicts. A neutral mediator helps both parties reach a negotiated agreement rather than litigating. For security deposit disputes, move-out disagreements, and contractor payment conflicts under $20,000, mediation runs faster and cheaper than court. Call ahead to confirm current fees. Both parties must agree to participate; if the other side refuses, this option doesn’t apply.
For contractor disputes and security deposit conflicts under $20,000, small claims court is also available without an attorney. Travis County Justice of the Peace courts handle small claims cases, and the Law Library self-help desk at 1000 Guadalupe St. can walk you through the petition and the process.
The October Deadline You Need to Act on Now
Travis County property tax bills arrive in October. For most property owners, the window to protest a valuation through the Appraisal Review Board closed on May 15, with hearings running through the summer. But if you protested and received an ARB decision you believe is wrong, you still have options — and most people don’t know it. If you want to understand the full ARB process after an informal hearing fails, how the Travis County Appraisal Review Board process works covers each step and your options at every stage.
Deadlines to appeal an ARB order are strict and run from the date of that order. Call Lone Star Legal Aid at 1-800-444-6776 now and specifically say you have an ARB decision you want to appeal. They’re one of the only legal aid organizations in Austin that handles property tax cases.
Two other matters deserve attention before the October bill arrives, regardless of whether you protested this year. If your homestead exemption doesn’t appear on your appraisal notice or was dropped incorrectly, file the correction with the Travis County Appraisal District now. An uncorrected exemption means a larger bill in October, and correcting it after the bill arrives is a longer, harder process. And if you expect difficulty paying the full October bill, Travis County accepts installment payment agreements — but they must generally be requested before the delinquency date. Contact TCAD directly for current procedures.
After October 1, your options narrow and penalty clocks start running. September is the time to move on this.
Phone numbers and organizational information were drawn from published directories and direct calls made during reporting. Intake capacity, program availability, and contact information change frequently. Call ahead before visiting any location in person. This guide reflects conditions as of late September and will be updated as conditions change.
