Advocacy North for Elders and Seniors is a program run by community legal clinics in Northern Ontario. They offer legal help and advice to elders and seniors who have low incomes and are dealing with legal issues related to their age.  

They offer free and confidential help and advice in these areas: 

• retirement homes and long-term care homes 
• consent and capacity 
• wills and powers of attorney  
• elder abuse  
• consumer rights including scams 

Legal Aid Ontario funds legal clinics across Ontario. There are two types of legal clinics: community legal clinics and specialty legal clinics.

Community legal clinics provide free legal services to people with low incomes who live in their area. Some help with wills. Search for the clinic in your area using your postal code to find out more.

Some specialty legal clinics provide free legal services to specific groups of people with low incomes. The Advocacy Centre for the Elderly may be able to help older adults with some issues related to wills.

The PBSC Wills Clinic helps draft wills and powers of attorney for property and personal care for people with low incomes in York Region. Law students provide these services from October to November and January to March each year. They are supervised by lawyers.

Call the clinic and leave a message. A student will call you back and ask you about your income to see if you qualify for services. If you qualify, a meeting will be set up.

In Kingston, the Queen’s Elder Law Clinic provides a range of free legal services to seniors with a low income. This includes help with Wills, Power of Attorney for Property, and Power of Attorney for Personal Care.

The hotline can give you 30 minutes of free legal help and advice over the telephone on civil law matters, which include:

• employment
• housing
• consumer issues
• Powers of Attorney
• corporate law for charities, non-profits, and small businesses

It doesn’t help with family law or criminal law problems.

The hotline generally accepts calls Monday to Friday between 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The Ontario Legal Information Centre offers a free 30-minute meeting with a lawyer to anyone in Ontario, online or by phone in English or French. They provide legal information on any legal topic, and referrals to services.  Book a meeting online or call 1-844-343-7462 if you need help.

The Law Society of Ontario has on online Law Society Referral Service that gives you the name of a lawyer or licensed paralegal who will give free legal advice for up to 30 minutes in any area of law.

If you can’t wait for a legal representative to call you back, or if you don’t have a call-back number, email lsrs@lso.ca. Or, if you’re in crisis or in custody, call 1-855-947-5255 or 416-947-5255, Monday to Friday, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

The directory lists all lawyers and paralegals licensed to give legal services in Ontario. You can search by name, address or postal code, language, and area of law. You can also search for services offered in French and for unbundled services.

JusticeNet is a not-for-profit organization that can help people find legal services when their income is too high for legal aid and too low to afford legal fees. Their website has a list of lawyers, paralegals, and mediators who charge reduced fees based on your income and the size of your family. You must register and pay a small fee to use their services.