Holistic approach makes Senior Citizen’s Law Office stand out

For nearly 43 years, the Senior Citizen Law Office has served senior citizens in central New Mexico, including those in Valencia County, according to Executive Director Brwyn Downing.

“We were created specifically to provide critically needed advocacy and legal representation to seniors aged 60 and older in order to uphold their rights, maximize their autonomy and ensure they receive the benefits to which they are entitled,” said Downing in a recent telephone interview.

In Valencia County, the organization is funded by the New Mexico Civil Legal Service Commission, which was created in 2001 by the state Legislature.

Downing, who became executive director for the Senior Citizen Law Office in 2001, said the non-profit’s services have an income requirement of 200 percent of the federal poverty level or less for Valencia County citizens. The organization is locally-funded and not federally-funded, though state money tied to low-income New Mexicans does use the federal poverty level as a guideline, as per Older Americans Act guidelines.

“We see that seniors have a lot of the same issues across central New Mexico,” she said. “Of course, as a nonprofit, there is far greater need than we can actually provide services to that standard, unfortunately.

“I would say for almost every nonprofit who provides civil legal services to low-income New Mexicans, we have to give priority to seniors who are economically needy, socially isolated, medically frail and institutionalized,” she concluded.

The Senior Citizen Law Office services include:

Government benefits: Helping seniors access Social Security, health care benefits (Medicaid, Medicare), SNAP and other state benefits.

Housing: Landlord-tenant work (almost always representing the tenant), and home foreclosure defense.

Financial well-being and exploitation: Defense against financial exploitation, handling consumer matters, identity theft, and debt collection issues.

Advanced directives: Recommending and assisting with powers of attorney for everyone over 18 to protect autonomy and prevent adult guardianship.

Downing said government benefits are one of the main types of issues SCLO tackles overall, and the organization is “making sure our seniors can access everything they’re entitled to.”

“That includes their Social Security that they worked for, their health care benefits, Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP if they need it, other state benefits, etc.,” she said.

In Valencia County, SCLO does a lot of work regarding housing, which she said is an issue nationwide. The nonprofit does a lot of landlord-tenant work in Valencia County, she said, and almost always represents the tenant because of the “power dynamic” involved between a landlord and a tenant.

“Sadly, for some people, there are no retention options, and when that’s the case, we try to help them exit gracefully and think about what’s next in life,” she said.

The Senior Citizen Law Office also provides legal education classes and one-on-one general legal clinics at senior centers in the community, working directly with the prospective client due to its ethical duties as a law office. Downing said the organization takes a different approach when helping seniors.

“We do a lot of holistic representation, which is what we call it,” she said. “Actually, home foreclosure is a really great example. In almost every single case that we’ve received for home foreclosure, there’s a reason behind why the senior could no longer pay their mortgage. So it’s not just the home foreclosure issue. It’s addressing the originating issue about why they cannot pay their mortgage.”

“They might have lost their government benefits or someone stole their ID and wiped their bank account clean,” she explained. “So when we do an intake and we meet with our clients, very often they come to us with one legal issue and we end up picking up more that we can assist them with. We try to look at the senior situation holistically.”

With a staff of 19, including 11 attorneys, the SCLO most often works on housing issues, which Downing said has been the greatest need in recent years, followed by benefits work. Downing said the non-profit prefers to do prevention versus reaction, scheduling community clinics and educational presentations, which is a significant part of their preventative work.

Almost all services provided by the organization are free, except for estate planning, although the prices for estate planning are published on the SCLO’s website, sclonm.org, and are kept low.

“Getting into the community is important because we’re meeting people where they are, instead of having them drive to our office. That’s a really important function of what our model of service,” Downing said. “A lot of our educational presentations are about arming yourself with knowledge to prevent something like a scam or ID theft. It’s really important for us to do our work in the office, where we have what you don’t have when you’re presenting in a room in a senior center. It’s crucially important to also be able to meet people on their own.”

For more information, contact SCLO at 505-265-2300.