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EnglishWhat Legal Topics and Issues Does Legal Aid WV Cover?
Updated
Legal Aid WV organizes its legal information by problem category rather than by area of law, so you can start from the situation you are facing and navigate to the relevant pages. The site groups content into nine main topic areas: Courts & Hearings, Criminal Record & Driver's License, Disaster Relief, Family & Safety, Health & Benefits, Home & Apartment, Money & Debt, School & Education, and Work & Unemployment. Each area links to specific guides and sub-topics, and a search box lets you look up a legal information topic directly if you don't see your issue listed.
Main Topic Areas and Example Issues
The table below summarizes what each category covers, based on the topic lists published on legalaidwv.org.
| Topic Area | Example Issues Covered |
|---|---|
| Courts & Hearings | Representing yourself, going to court and dealing with procedure, domestic violence and abuse, divorce, separation and annulment, renting or leasing a home, food and cash benefits, health coverage benefits, car payment issues, contracts |
| Criminal Record & Driver's License | Expungement, driver's licenses, traffic and parking tickets, replacing lost documents after a disaster |
| Disaster Relief | Help for individuals after a disaster, rebuilding, replacing lost documents, insurance claims, problems with living conditions, renting or leasing a home, owning or buying a home |
| Family & Safety | Domestic violence and abuse, divorce, separation and annulment, abuse and neglect, child custody and parenting plans, adoption, foster care, personal safety orders, parental rights and termination, paternity, guardianship and conservatorship |
| Health & Benefits | Food and cash benefits, Social Security disability benefits, health coverage benefits, mental health, substance use disorder recovery, disability reasonable accommodation, veterans, child support, debt and lending money issues |
| Home & Apartment | Eviction from a home, problems with living conditions, renting or leasing a home, owning or buying a home, utilities, energy and heating, housing discrimination, contracts, debt and lending money issues |
| Money & Debt | Bankruptcy, car payment issues, credit practices and credit reports, debt and lending money issues, protecting property, protecting wages, paying for education, paying for medical care, financial exploitation, taxes |
| School & Education | Special education, missing school, paying for education, veterans, help for individuals after a disaster |
| Work & Unemployment | Unemployment compensation, disability reasonable accommodation, wrongful discharge, family leave, wage issues, substance use disorder recovery, help for individuals after a disaster |
How the Site Is Organized for Self-Navigation
Each category page opens with a short list of linked sub-topics, and a "MORE..." link expands the list where the site has additional content. This means you can drill down from a broad area (for example, Home & Apartment) to a specific problem (for example, eviction from a home) without needing to know legal terminology. The same issue can appear under more than one category — disaster relief, for instance, links to housing, insurance, and lost-document pages — so browsing a second related category is worthwhile if your first stop doesn't cover your situation.
The homepage also surfaces a few highlighted tools and entry points: Legal Information, Apply for Legal Help Now, Renters Rights WV, the Kinship Connector Tool, and Justice on the Move. These sit alongside the topic lists and are worth checking if your issue matches one of them.
Finding a Specific Topic
If your problem isn't obvious from the category names, use the search box on the site ("Not seeing what you need above? Try searching..."). Enter a plain-language term — for example, "expungement," "eviction," or "child custody" — and submit the search to see matching legal information topics. This is often faster than guessing which category a guide was filed under, especially for issues that could plausibly sit in two areas, such as wage issues (Work & Unemployment) or car payment problems (Money & Debt and Courts & Hearings).
What to Expect and What to Do Next
The site is an information and self-help resource: it explains legal topics and procedures and provides an application path for legal help, but the topic lists themselves are guides rather than case-specific advice. Start with the category closest to your situation, open the sub-topic that matches, and use search for anything ambiguous. If you want to request assistance rather than read on your own, the "Apply for Legal Help Now" and "Get Help Now" links are the site's designated entry points.