Elderly Project & Veterans Initiative

VOLS is operating remotely during this time. Please download our hotline announcement to share with others.

Accessing Our Services During the COVID-19 Public Health Crisis

Elderly Project & Veterans Initiative staff and volunteers are now working remotely to continue to provide life planning documents  and general civil legal advice to low-income New York City residents aged 60 and over, and to the social workers and advocates who assist them. For seniors, who are among one of the highest at-risk groups when it comes to contracting COVID-19, obtaining a will, power of attorney, health care proxy, and other documents is more important than ever. If you are a senior or veteran age 60+, you may qualify for free services from VOLS. 

Please watch the below video to learn more about the life planning documents we provide and how they function to protect your legal rights and health care decisions.

To apply for services, seniors and veterans age 60+ should call our hotlines at (347) 521-5704 (seniors) or (347) 521-5725 (veterans), OR  click below to download our intake form. (Please make sure the form is downloaded to your computer before you start typing in answers. You must then save the completed form and return it to VOLS

• Click here for Seniors (non-veterans) Intake Form
• Click here for Senior Veterans Intake Form

A key aspect of our success is our ability to combine social work resources already available to seniors with pro bono legal services. Currently, we work closely with 10 senior centers, share information and communicate regularly by e-mail with over 600 social workers and other advocates in the elder services community, and have a roster of over 150 volunteer lawyers from some of New York City’s best law firms.

How We Involve Pro Bono Lawyers

We offer all of our prospective volunteers a thorough, two-hour training, and a practical, soup-to-nuts manual on the drafting and execution of life-planning documents for low-income seniors. We then carefully screen and assess the cases of seniors with life-planning needs, and refer appropriate matters to our volunteers. Our clients are usually referred to us by a social worker, and many have the additional support of other on-site staff at senior housing developments and senior centers or long-term care agency personnel.

How We Serve Our Clients

• We conduct 10 monthly walk-in legal advice and brief service clinics at Manhattan senior centers. At the clinics, seniors can discuss their legal problems with an attorney in confidence, receive advice and brief services, and, if appropriate, obtain a referral to a volunteer lawyer for representation.  Seniors receive advice on legal matters in the areas of housing, consumer debt, public benefits, and life-planning documents.  Referrals are also provided to organizations that can provide representation in these and other types of legal matters.
• Through telephone and e-mail consultations, we provide legal information and advice to case managers, social workers and other advocates in New York City’s elder services network to help them better serve their clients.
• We present information sessions to seniors and advocates at senior centers and other community organizations on a variety of topics including life-planning documents like wills, powers of attorney, and health care directives; government benefits such as Medicaid, SSI and SCRIE; landlord-tenant issues; and consumer law matters.
• We coordinate and supervise the referral of eligible clients seeking assistance with their wills and other life-planning documents to a roster of over 150 volunteer lawyers working at New York City law firms. The attorneys meet with clients either at the law firms or, for the homebound elderly, in those clients’ homes.
• We publish guides for senior center staff, advocates, and family members, including A Guide to Burial Assistance and Funeral Planning for New Yorkers in Need and An Advocate's Guide to SCRIE.