Missouri judiciary investing $125M in funding to help Missourians access civil legal services

Ted BojorquezJune 9, 2022

Mike Parson in Jefferson City, Mo. (AP Photo/David A. Lieb)

Thanks to recent action by the legislature and governor, the Missouri judiciary is investing more than $125 million in additional funding to help low-income Missourians access necessary civil legal services. This amount constitutes the largest single payment ever into the state’s fund that supports legal service organizations.

The Missouri General Assembly passed the final version of House Bill No. 3015 – a second supplemental budget bill in part appropriating moneys to the Supreme Court of Missouri from the state’s basic civil legal services fund – on May 6 and delivered it May 12 to Governor Michael L. Parson, who signed it into law the next day.

“This action by our constitutional partners in the legislative and executive branches to appropriate these funds to the judicial branch represents Missouri government working at its very best,” Chief Justice Paul C. Wilson said. “This appropriation is an investment in the future of eligible low-income Missourians and their families that will give them better access to the basic civil legal services they need … to escape human trafficking, domestic violence, sexual violence, or those abusing opioids or methamphetamines; to obtain safe and stable housing; to ensure appropriate educational services for children with special needs; to protect those living in nursing homes or assisted living communities; to assist the elderly and disabled prepare wills, beneficiary deeds, and powers of attorney for health or financial decisions; and to secure social or supplemental security, Medicaid, veterans or other benefits for which they may be eligible.”

Created by the legislature in 2003, the state’s basic civil legal services fund – administered at the Court’s direction – was designed to increase the funding available for Missouri’s legal services organizations to provide eligible low-income Missourians with equal access to the civil justice system, prioritizing families and children, domestic violence, the elderly, and qualification for benefits under the social security act. The four organizations providing such services – geographically divided to cover all 114 counties plus the city of St. Louis – are Legal Aid of Western Missouri, Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, Legal Services of Southern Missouri and Mid-Missouri legal services.

Moneys for the fund come from four primary sources: $30 of each annual enrollment fee paid by attorneys licensed in Missouri; specified amounts of the fees paid for filing cases in the Supreme Court of Missouri, the Missouri Court of Appeals, Missouri circuit courts and their associate divisions (excluding small claims cases); matching federal Medicaid funds; and a specified portion of any punitive damages awarded in any tort case in Missouri. The supplemental funding from HB 3015 represents the portion designated for the basic civil legal services fund from punitive damages awarded in recent talc litigation in Missouri.

During the past four fiscal years, moneys passed from the tort victims compensation fund through the basic civil legal services fund have provided more than $4.8 million to help the state’s legal aid offices serve their clients. To be eligible for services, an individual typically must be living at or below 125 percent of the federal poverty level. Missouri’s four programs closed more than 16,000 cases in 2021. Of those, approximately 32 percent involved family law, juvenile and education issues; another 32 percent involved health, housing and income maintenance issues; and 23 percent involved criminal expungements under Missouri law.

Ted BojorquezJune 9, 2022