Free Legal Help in Texas
Source checked2026-08-25
Legal aid in Texas is not one organization. It is a set of separate nonprofits, bar programs, and public libraries, each with its own service area, its own eligibility rules, and its own intake process. This page maps them by the route you would actually take: the statewide starting points first, then the State Bar's online clinic, then the regional legal aid providers, then the referral route for people who do not qualify, and finally the libraries where you can research a question yourself. Every entry describes the organization in its own terms and links to its own site.
This page is a directory rather than an explainer. For the law itself, in plain English with citations, start with our guides to Texas law and come back here when you need a person.
Statewide starting points
TexasLawHelp.org
TexasLawHelp.org is the broadest front door. Operated by the Texas Legal Services Center, it is dedicated to providing free and reliable legal information to Texans: self-help guides with instructions and court forms, guided forms, articles, a legal help directory, and listings of legal events and clinics. It also runs an Ask a Question service in which attorneys answer online. Its topic areas include family, divorce, and children; housing; money and debt; protection from violence or abuse; and wills, estate planning, and probate. The information itself is free to everyone. Start at texaslawhelp.org.
Texas Legal Services Center
The Texas Legal Services Center is the Austin-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit behind TexasLawHelp.org. Beyond that site, it provides free civil legal help to income-eligible Texans in areas including healthcare, safety, stability, housing, government benefits, and employment, and it runs legal education programs, legal kiosks, rural legal aid clinics, and direct representation. Its legal staff also answer a live chat Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Details and intake are at tlsc.org.
The State Bar's free online clinic
Texas Free Legal Answers is a virtual legal advice clinic in which qualifying users post civil legal questions at no cost and pro bono attorneys answer them. Its topic list runs from family, custody, and eviction through consumer rights, work, and health. Qualifying is the operative word: the site asks screening questions before you can post, you must register for yourself only, and the clinic takes civil questions only. It also states its limits plainly. The volunteer attorneys cannot call you and cannot represent you in court, and a response before a court date or deadline is not guaranteed. The clinic operates at texas.freelegalanswers.org.
One point of possible confusion is worth settling here. This website, Texas Legal Answers, is an independent publication and is not that clinic. Nothing on this site accepts questions, and no one here can answer one. If what you need is an attorney's response to your own civil question, the clinic above is the service built for exactly that.
Regional legal aid
Three large providers cover most of the state between them. Each serves a defined set of counties, so the first intake question is where you live, and each screens applicants under its own eligibility rules.
Lone Star Legal Aid
Lone Star Legal Aid, based in Houston, provides advocacy, legal representation, and community education in civil matters across a multi-county service area of Texas. Its work includes housing and eviction defense, family law, consumer problems, public benefits, and disaster relief. All clients must meet financial and legal status eligibility requirements, and it does not handle criminal cases. Coverage and intake details are at lonestarlegal.org.
Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas
Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas provides free civil legal services to low-income individuals and families across 114 counties in North and West Texas, in matters including custody and support, debt collection, domestic violence, divorce, housing and eviction, income benefits, and estate planning documents. Its site now lives at legalaidtx.org; the older lanwt.org address redirects there. The site's Am I Eligible section and online application are the way in.
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid provides free legal services across 68 counties in central and southwest Texas, through multiple practice areas and special projects. Its site includes a service map for checking whether your county is covered, which is the thing to confirm before applying. Find it at trla.org.
Finding a lawyer when you do not qualify
Legal aid eligibility rules screen many people out. For them, the State Bar of Texas runs the Lawyer Referral and Information Service, which refers people to lawyers matching their legal needs and financial means across more than 246 Texas counties. A lawyer referred through the service provides up to a 30 minute consultation for no more than $20. Two caveats come straight from the service's own page. It states it has no participating attorneys who offer free or reduced fee assistance, so this is a route to an affordable consultation rather than to free help. And residents of Bexar, Dallas, Harris, Jefferson, Tarrant, and Travis counties are directed to their own local certified referral services instead. The service is at texasbar.com/lris.
Research the question yourself
The Texas State Law Library in Austin serves the legal research needs of the state's courts and agencies and of the citizens of the state, and it is open to the public on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Its collections cover statutes, case law, court rules, and legal forms, and much of that is usable without the trip: research databases with remote access for account holders, an Ask a Librarian reference service, and document delivery. It also runs a copy service for people who are incarcerated. Start at sll.texas.gov.
Closer to home, Texas counties differ on whether they maintain a law library of their own and on who may use it, so your county's own website is the place to check before planning a visit.
What to expect
A few realities apply across everything above. Eligibility differs by program: income limits, legal status requirements, and case-type restrictions all vary, and qualifying with one organization says nothing about qualifying with another. Geography matters, because the regional providers each serve specific counties, and a case in the wrong county belongs to a different program. And intake takes time, since screening comes before help at every organization listed here and none of them promises an instant answer. Each organization states its own rules on its own site, which is why every entry on this page links to the source. Where a summary on this page and the organization's site disagree, trust the organization's site: it is current, and this page is a snapshot.