Read more: Local, Community, Divorce Clinic, Workshop, Help, Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, Pro Bono Week, Divorce, Hidalgo County, Willacy County, Rio Grande Valley, Texas
Elida Cazares is single again thanks to help from the Community Justice Program and Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid.
"It feels good,” she said. “It feels good to get divorced and finally get it out of the way.”
Cazares was among hundreds of participants in two divorce clinics held in Hidalgo and Willacy Counties this week.
Attorney Cesar Javier Lopez said he was participating in the program.
"We choose the clients and we get assigned a file and we just work the file…file the petition, waive our service or get it served…bring it into the courtroom an finalize the divorce,” Lopez said.
He and other attorneys are volunteering his time to help out those residents who cannot afford to pay for legal services
The program is part of the American Bar Association's “National Pro Bono Week”.
The annual event encourages attorneys to donate their time to low income residents.
A state district judge in Hidalgo County and another in Willacy County agreed to come in after hours to hear the divorce cases.
Organizers said the help could not come at a more crucial time when divorce rates are skyrocketing around the Rio Grande Valley.
Statistics from Hidalgo County show that 370 couples filed for divorce in all of 2008 but this year, that number is now six times greater at 1,511 cases.
In Cameron County, the number stands at 1,216 divorces granted for 2008 but so far this year, the number rose to 1,376 cases.
For more information about this program and Texas Rural Grande Legal Aid to go www.trla.org.
