All three situations occur but it is the first two that get people into trouble.  People sometimes think that they can deny receiving the papers.  While sometimes they are being truthful, the presumption is that a mailed letter was received if not returned to the sender.  The presumption is difficult to overcome.  This situation usually occurs if you share a box with someone or are out of town for a long time.  Rarely will box-sharing or an extended vacation be an excuse for not responding to papers sent to you.

If you receive the papers, respond to them.  If you don’t understand them, seek legal advice.  Whatever the matter is, it will not go away simply because you toss it or file it away.  More than likely you will be risking something very valuable to you by not responding.  We see clients every day who ask us to swoop in and save their car, house, or child at the last minute because they didn’t seek legal advice right away.  Sometimes we are able to help, sometimes not.  It is always easier to help if we are involved from the get-go.

If you understand the papers and wish to represent yourself at court, we still encourage you to seek legal advice.  Representing yourself in court can be an incredibly empowering experience and a hallmark of true democracies but it can also be complex.  Remember that rules vary in every tribal court, each state court, and in federal courts.  Because you know the rules for one court doesn’t mean you know the rules for all courts.  In fact, few lawyers do.  But a lawyer can research for you or direct you to where to find the answer you’re looking for.

The bottom line is if you get legal papers in the mail and don’t understand them, seek legal advice.  If you think you understand what the papers are asking, seek legal advice to double-check that you’re right.  And, above all, never ignore legal documents.  They will catch up with you and eventually you will be required to answer them.

Dakota Plains Legal Services was chartered in 1966 as South Dakota Legal Services to provide legal assistance to citizens who could not afford a lawyer.  It is a non-profit organization that seeks to ensure equal access to justice under the law for all eligible clients in its service area.  That service area encompasses 8 Indian reservations and 26 of South Dakota’s 66 counties as well as one North Dakota county.  It has six branch offices located in Mission, Fort Thompson, Pine Ridge, Sisseton, Eagle Butte, and Fort Yates, North Dakota.  In addition to serving eight South Dakota Indian reservations, DPLS also serves non-Indian counties and citizens located within its service area.  Geographically speaking, DPLS serves 44% of South Dakota.

DPLS funding comes primarily from the Legal Services Corporation but is supplemented by a broad range of sources, including charitable organizations, foundations, corporations, and donors.  LSC is a private, non-profit corporation established by Congress for the distribution of funds to legal services providers.  As a result, LSC funding (upon which DPLS is particularly dependant) has restrictions attached.  This money may not be used for class actions, welfare reform challenges, lobbying, prisoner litigation, representation of illegal aliens, drug-related housing evictions, etc.

So who can be a DPLS client?  The simple answer is anyone who is eligible to receive our services.  The person must be a US citizen or eligible alien, not have significant assets, and meet income guidelines established by LSC.  For example, an individual who makes more than $10,738 is ineligible for our services.  A family of four making more than $22,063 would also be ineligible.  The goal of the program is to bridge the access to justice gap that the poverty population has historically fallen into and to provide basic legal services that the majority of the population, however expensive, can pay for.

As part of this “bridging the justice gap” effort, DPLS is also seeking to educate and inform citizens about their legal rights and obligations.  While blissful, ignorance complicates the workings of a democratic society and jeopardizes citizens’ rights.  DPLS feels that educated citizens will be more able to avoid legal problems and thus not need our services as often.  This thought has lead to the Law Notes column, which is distributed to about 20 South Dakota newspapers.

We thank this newspaper for printing this column and hope that you learn something each month.  An educated and informed populace will maintain our great country and all it represents.