I85PREP
⌘ K
SLLC Attorney Final study materials
SLLC Attorney Final study resources

SLLC Attorney Final: Substantive Law: Family, Housing, Consumer, and Public Benefits

SLLC Attorney Final · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

All guide sections

Substantive Law: Family, Housing, Consumer, and Public Benefits

Substantive Law tests issue-spotting across four practice areas that dominate legal-aid dockets. The exam expects you to name the governing standard, not just the outcome.

Family

  • Custody follows the child’s best interests, using statutory factors such as stability, caretaking, and safety.
  • Child support runs through guideline worksheets; deviations require written findings.
  • Domestic-violence protective orders may issue ex parte on a showing of immediate danger, then set a plenary hearing.
  • UCCJEA governs interstate custody jurisdiction; home state controls absent emergency or temporary jurisdiction.

Housing

  • Every residential lease carries an implied warranty of habitability; retaliation for a good-faith complaint creates a rebuttable presumption.
  • FHA reasonable-accommodation claims require a disability, a request, and a nexus; the landlord must engage in an interactive process.
  • Section 8/HCV terminations require notice and an opportunity to contest; VAWA protects survivors from eviction based on the abuse.

Consumer and public benefits

  • FDCPA: within 30 days of a dunning letter, a dispute triggers a collection freeze until verification is mailed (15 U.S.C. §1692g(b)).
  • FCRA: dispute inaccurate furnisher data; UDAP claims fill gaps.
  • Public benefits: Goldberg v. Kelly requires a pre-termination evidentiary hearing before welfare benefits end; SNAP and Medicaid have fair-hearing rights; overpayments may be waived for agency error without fault.

Worked example

A collection letter states the debt and the 30-day notice. The client disputes in writing on day 20. The collector sues on day 25 without verifying. That violates §1692g(b): collection must cease until the collector obtains verification and mails it. The violation supports actual damages, statutory damages, and fees under §1692k.

Traps

Assuming SSI and SSDI have the same appeal path; missing the FDCPA 30-day window; treating a Section 8 termination as an eviction with no due process; and forgetting that child-support deviations need findings.