Legal aid in the United States is delivered through Legal Services Corporation (LSC)-funded nonprofits, law school clinics, pro bono panels, and court self-help centers. Most programs serve women at or below 125–200% of the Federal Poverty Level and handle family law, housing, public benefits, immigration, and protective orders. The American Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession and the National Women's Law Center supplement local services. For women, the most common legal aid needs are custody, divorce, child support, VAWA-based immigration relief, and DV protective orders — all areas LSC grantees regularly handle. This directory aggregates state legal aid offices, women's legal clinics, and bar referral panels.
Florida handles family law in circuit courts across its 20 judicial circuits. The Department of Revenue Child Support Program oversees enforcement statewide. Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, and Fort Lauderdale are the largest metros. Bay Area Legal Services, Three Rivers Legal Services, the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and statewide Planned Parenthood affiliates serve women.
Headquartered just blocks from the Florida Capitol, FLS coordinates the statewide civil legal-aid network and runs specialty units on immigration, farmworker rights, housing, and consumer protection. Mothers turned away by their county LSC office because their case is too complex or politically sensitive can ask FLS for a direct referral. Income-tested.
(850) 385-7900 · 122 S Calhoun St, Tallahassee, FL 32301 · Mon-Fri 9am-5pm · Visit Website
The Palm Beach County legal-aid office handles DV injunctions, family law, eviction defense, and immigration cases for low-income mothers from Jupiter to Boca Raton. Intake is income-tested but flexible for survivors fleeing abuse. The office sits two blocks from the West Palm Beach courthouse, making same-day filings practical.
(561) 655-8944 · 423 Fern St Suite 200, West Palm Beach, FL 33401 · Mon-Fri 8:30am-5pm · Visit Website
JALA covers Duval, Clay, Nassau, and St. Johns Counties from its downtown Jacksonville headquarters, with a strong family-law unit and a separate domestic-violence team. Evening pro se clinics let working mothers draft filings after hours with volunteer attorney oversight. Phone intake screens out non-eligible callers quickly.
(904) 356-8371 · 126 W Adams St, Jacksonville, FL 32202 · Mon-Fri 8:30am-5pm · Visit Website
LSGMI's Biscayne Boulevard office handles civil cases across Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties, with a heavy housing and family-law caseload reflecting the region's eviction-court pressure. Staff are fluent in Spanish and routinely arrange Haitian Creole interpretation. Mothers with mixed-status families benefit from the office's deep immigration partnerships.
(305) 576-0080 · 3000 Biscayne Blvd Suite 500, Miami, FL 33137 · Mon-Fri 9am-5pm · Visit Website
Bay Area Legal Services anchors the Tampa Bay civil legal-aid scene, serving Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas, Manatee, and surrounding counties. The family-law unit is especially active on DV-related custody work; survivors of intimate-partner violence often receive expedited intake. Walk-ins are accepted, but a morning phone call books the day faster.
(813) 232-1343 · 1302 N 19th St Suite 400, Tampa, FL 33605 · Mon-Fri 8:30am-5pm
OCBA Legal Aid runs a pro bono panel that matches qualifying Orlando-area mothers with private family-law attorneys donating their time. Income limits apply and the screening is thorough, but a successful match means full representation — not just form review — at no cost. Best for divorces and contested custody cases.
(407) 841-8310 · 100 E Robinson St, Orlando, FL 32801 · Mon-Fri 8:30am-5pm · Visit Website
A Jacksonville-based nonprofit focused on women's rights litigation: pregnancy discrimination, sexual harassment, reproductive health, and family law where gender plays a structural role. Useful for mothers whose situation is outside the priorities of a general legal-aid office — the FWLC will sometimes take cases others won't touch.
(904) 543-0550 · Jacksonville, FL · Mon-Fri 9am-5pm
Dialing 211 anywhere in Florida reaches a regional United Way information line that screens legal needs and routes callers to the correct LSC-funded program for their county. Faster than guessing whether BALS, JALA, LSGMI, or CLSMF covers your zip code. Operators in English and Spanish 24/7.
211 · Statewide service · 24/7 · Visit Website
CLSMF blankets twelve counties from Daytona Beach inland to Ocala and down through Orlando, with civil-aid teams on family law, housing, and benefits. After hurricanes, CLSMF stands up disaster-recovery legal teams handling FEMA appeals, insurance denials, and contractor fraud — work no other Florida program covers as broadly.
(800) 405-1417 · 122 E Colonial Dr Suite 200, Orlando, FL 32801 · Mon-Fri 8:30am-5pm · Visit Website
LSC is the federally chartered nonprofit that funds nearly every civil legal-aid office in Florida. The program locator confirms which LSC grantee — FLS, BALS, JALA, LSGMI, CLSMF, or others — serves a given Florida county, useful when a mother isn't sure which office to call first.
Nationwide · Online · Visit Website
LawHelp aggregates every legal-aid office, pro bono clinic, law-school clinic, and self-help center in a given Florida county into one searchable list. Florida-specific results pull from the LSC network plus university law clinics at UF, FSU, FIU, Stetson, Barry, and Miami.
Nationwide · Online
The ABA's directory of free and reduced-fee legal services breaks results down by state and case type. Useful for Florida mothers whose situation — special education due-process, employment discrimination, immigration consular processing — sits outside the standard family-law and eviction-defense priorities of county legal aid.
Nationwide · Online · Visit Website
Pro Bono Net powers many state legal-aid websites and hosts LawHelp Interactive, a free document-assembly engine that generates court-ready Florida family-law forms by interview. A practical drafting resource when self-help center hours don't fit a mother's work schedule.
Nationwide · Online · Visit Website
Justia maintains a free, regularly refreshed directory cross-referencing legal-aid offices, pro bono panels, and law-school clinics by state. Useful as a sanity check when LSC's official locator returns thin or outdated results for rural Florida counties in the Panhandle or Big Bend region.
Nationwide · Online · Visit Website
Operated by the National Network to End Domestic Violence, WomensLaw indexes attorneys and programs that specifically handle abuse-related custody, divorce, and protection-order cases. Especially useful for Florida survivors needing combined DV and family-law representation, which not every legal-aid office handles together.
Nationwide · Online · Visit Website
NCADV's legal section explains Florida injunction-for-protection procedures, firearm-surrender requirements after a DV finding, and survivor-specific custody considerations under Section 741.30. Useful background reading before a mother walks into her first Florida courthouse hearing.
Nationwide · Online · Visit Website
Operated by Pine Tree Legal Assistance, Stateside Legal compiles free legal help for veterans and military families: VA benefits appeals, SCRA protections, discharge upgrades, and survivor pensions. Highly relevant given Florida's large military-family population at MacDill, NAS Pensacola, NAS Jacksonville, and Patrick SFB.
Nationwide · Online · Visit Website
The DOJ's official list of recognized organizations and accredited representatives authorized to practice immigration law, searchable by state. Critical for Florida mothers seeking VAWA self-petitions, U-visas, asylum, or DACA renewal — fields where notario fraud is rampant in South Florida and Central Florida.
Nationwide · Online · Visit Website