ATLANTA – Free legal counseling, assistance and/or referrals are available for Georgia residents in designated counties as they recover from Hurricane Helene and Tropical Storm Debby, damage Aug. 4–20, 2024. People do not need to apply for FEMA Assistance to receive Disaster Legal Services. 

Georgia residents can use this service to receive confidential, free legal assistance due to the disasters, but do not have the means to secure adequate legal services. Services typically provided include:

• Assistance with securing FEMA and other government benefits available to disaster survivors
• Assistance with life, medical, and property insurance claims
• Help with home repair contracts and contractors
• Counseling on mortgage-foreclosure problems
• Assistance in consumer-protection matters, remedies, and procedures
• Replacement of identify and other important legal documents destroyed in either of the disasters
• Counseling on landlord-tenant problems

Individuals who are interested in receiving this legal assistance can call the toll-free legal hotline at 1-866-584-8027 or 404-527-8793. The hotline accepts calls 24-hours a day, however, people may be prompted to leave a message and a specialist will contact them as soon as possible. When calling, people need to identify which storm caused damage to their home or personal property, what storm-related issue they need legal assistance with and the county where the storm-damaged property is located.

Disaster Legal Services are available to eligible homeowners and renters whose primary residence is in Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brantley, Brooks, Bryan, Bulloch, Burke, Butts, Camden, Candler, Charlton, Chatham, Clinch, Coffee, Colquitt, Columbia, Cook, Dodge, Echols, Effingham, Elbert, Emanuel, Evans, Fulton, Glascock, Glynn, Hancock, Irwin, Jeff Davis, Jefferson, Jenkins, Johnson, Lanier, Laurens, Liberty, Lincoln, Long, Lowndes, McDuffie, McIntosh, Montgomery, Newton, Pierce, Rabun, Richmond, Screven, Taliaferro, Tattnall, Telfair, Thomas, Tift, Toombs, Treutlen, Ware, Warren, Washington, Wayne and Wheeler counties.

The service is a partnership between the American Bar Association's Young Lawyers Division, Georgia Team Ready, the Young Lawyers Division of the State Bar of Georgia and FEMA. Disaster Legal Services attorneys are not FEMA employees. They are volunteers who provide survivors with legal counseling, advice, and, when appropriate, legal representation in non-fee-generating cases that are not against the federal government. 

More information about legal assistance for Georgia disaster survivors is available online at the Georgia Legal Aid website.

For the latest information about Georgia’s recovery, visit fema.gov/disaster/4821 and fema.gov/georgia/helene.   Follow FEMA on X at x.com/femaregion4 or on Facebook at facebook.com/fema.