Income & Assets
Our teams cover a broad range of legal work between Employment Law, Civil Litigation, and setting up estates and trusts to ensure or protect the assets of our community.
Why Income & Assets?
In the United States, low-income residents have their income and assets expropriated on a massive scale. At a minimum, tens of billions of dollars in wealth are stolen annually.
The mechanisms vary and encompass everything from wage theft to wrongful foreclosures, consumer scams to property conversion, probate to wrongful insurance denial.
By preventing people from having the income and assets stolen, we are building up community wealth and reducing poverty.
Untold Billions Are Being Taken
It’s estimated that the value of all wage theft in the US is 3x higher than the value of all property crime combined. 17% of minimum wage workers experience wage theft every year.
Another example: in San Francisco, it’s been found that 84% of foreclosures had a “major legal violation,” leading to the illegal seizure of billions in home value.
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PEconomic Policy Institute (2017)
Cooper, D., & Kroeger, T. (2017, May 10). Employers steal billions from workers’ paychecks each year: Survey data show millions of workers are paid less than the minimum wage, at significant cost to taxpayers and state economies. Economic Policy Institute.
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PEconomic Policy Institute (2014)
Meixell, B., & Eisenbrey, R. (2014, September 11). An Epidemic of Wage Theft Is Costing Workers Hundreds of Millions of Dollars a Year. Economic Policy Institute.
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POffice of the Assessor-Recorder (2012)
Office of the Assessor-Recorder. (2012). (rep.). Foreclosure in California: A Crisis of Compliance. San Francisco.
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Of foreclosures were done illegally.
Asset & Income Stories
“I was worried about bills, and the house, just everything. I wasn’t sleeping. Open Door Legal and Lindsey helped me sleep at night.”
Tasha's Story
Teresita's Story
Reginald's Story
“Open Door Legal gave me an opportunity to adjust myself so I wouldn’t be anxious. I’m going to be 63. I wanted to get this done so I could rest assured that everything would take place when I die. There’s such security when you know things are handled in the proper way.”
Issue Areas
Some of the major income and asset-related issue areas we have represented people in include:
Explore other issue areas
