Minnesota Family Farm Law Project

Minnesota Legal Services Providers - 030164

Abstract Number: 030164

September 2008

Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services (SMRLS) partnered with Farmers Legal Action Group, Mid-Minnesota Legal Assistance, and Legal Services of Northwest Minnesota to implement the Minnesota Family Farm Law Project (MFFLP) to provide legal services to low-income farmers who are faced with the prospect of losing their homestead. Minnesota Legal Services providers launched the MFFLP to mitigate the effects of the farm crisis in the 1980s by delivering legal services to low-income farmers throughout Minnesota. In the mid-1980s, leaders in the Minnesota legal services community met with state legislators and bar leaders and discussed how legal aid programs could assist farmers in keeping their homesteads. In 1986, the Minnesota legislature passed an amendment to the already existing state funding statute for legal services as well as an additional filing fee, both of which are specifically earmarked for the MFFLP. As a result of these fundraising efforts, the MFFLP is funded entirely through state allocations.

To be eligible to receive assistance from the MFFLP, the state statute requires that recipients earn less than $25,000 a year and have a debt/asset ratio that exceeds 50%. The administrative interpretation of the state statute requires that most farms facing foreclosures must go through mediation prior to foreclosure, consequently; MFFLP staff members, drawing on collaborative resources, most frequently provide representation, consultation, and negotiations services to clients as they go through mediation. MFFLP staff members' seek to prevent foreclosure on family homesteads while also working to ensure that a farm can continue to operate by preventing the repossession of farm machinery, livestock, crops, and real estate. MMFLP also provides a variety of legal assistance and community services to ensure that financially distressed farmers receive fair treatment from private lenders, federal farm credit agencies, and other organizations.

This project operates in concert with state and local bar associations and relies heavily on volunteer attorneys and bar associations located in rural areas. The MFFLP uses reduced fee contracts with private attorneys and requires that recipients of assistance pay a small portion of the fees. Currently, reduced fee attorneys receive $60 an hour, $45 of which is paid by SMRLS and $15 is paid by the client. Thirty-three private law firms currently participate in this project. SMRLS has farm law advocates in the Mankato, Rochester, and Worthington offices. SMRLS farm law paralegal staff members are all farmers themselves thereby bringing a personal familiarity of the problems experienced by small farmers confronting financial hardship. Farmers Legal Action Group, based in St. Paul, Minnesota, provides training and support for MFFLP staff as well as staffing a statewide, toll-free hotline for farmers. FLAG also publishes community legal education materials designed to help farmers resolve their own legal problems.

Contact Information:

Bruce Beneke
Executive Director
Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services
46 East 4th Street, Suite 700
St. Paul, MN 55101
Phone: (651) 228-9823
Fax: (651) 228-9450
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