Overview

The Bexar County Women's Bar Foundation and the San Antonio Bar Foundation teamed up in 2004 to implement a monthly Wills Clinic in San Antonio. Its primary mission is to provide pro bono legal representation for low-income residents of San Antonio and Bexar County. The honorary co-chairs of the project are the San Antonio Probate Judges, Judge Polly Jackson Spencer and Judge Tom Rickhoff. The co-chairs are U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez and Abigail G. Kampmann.

The Wills Clinic is held on the second Wednesday of each month in the evening at St. Mary's Center for Legal & Social Justice. The Wills Clinic is in its tenth year and has grown from a 6-hour bi-annual clinic implemented by the Bexar County Women's Bar Foundation to be a 2-hour monthly turnkey project in 2004 operated in conjunction with San Antonio Bar Foundation.

The San Antonio Bar Foundation and the Bexar County Women's Bar Foundation share the operating costs for the clinic including advertising, food and supplies. The sponsors of the Wills Clinic also include Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc., St. Mary's Clinical Programs, San Antonio Legal Secretaries Association ("SALSA") and Esquire Deposition Services.

A representative of the San Antonio Bar Foundation does the client intake utilizing the computer intake qualification system of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid. The attorneys are volunteers throughout the community. The San Antonio Legal Secretaries Association provides the notary and interpreter volunteers. The witnesses for the execution ceremony are students, legal staff and/or SALSA volunteers.

Another important purpose of the Wills Clinic is to mentor students. Thus, each attorney is assigned a student who will observe the client interview and assist in the completion and execution of the estate planning documents at the clinic through the official role of "witness." These student volunteers are usually from St. Mary's University School of Law. During the summer months of the clinic, law clerks from San Antonio law firms are given the opportunity to be a mentee as well.

At the clinic, each client receives a will, powers of attorney for medical care and business matters, directive to physicians ("living will"), declaration of guardian in the event of later need and/or a tissue and organ donor card. Each month, approximately twenty clients are served for a total annual service of 240-260 low-income residents.

Tissue and organ donation brochures are given to clients, their family members and volunteers. After the client has executed his or her documents, the client stops by the Tissue and Organ Donation table that is staffed by the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance or other local volunteers. Hopefully, the client and the volunteers at the clinic will leave with a completed tissue and organ donation card.

At the April 14, 2004 clinic, a client wrote the following in her survey even though there was not a comment line: "A wonderful program - such a valuable service, marvelous atmosphere, very helpful!"

If you are willing to volunteer for the clinic or have any questions with regard to the implementation of this project, please contact the Wills Clinic Chair for the Bexar County Women's Bar Foundation, Abigail G. Kampmann, at (210) 832-0969 or email her at kampmann@sbcglobal.net.

© 2005 bexarcountywomensbar.org