Free and Low-Cost Family Law Help in Riverside County: ICLS, Riverside Legal Aid, the Self-Help Center, the Law Library and the $40 Referral

ICLS describes itself as serving low-income and vulnerable people in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, including people with limited incomes, disabilities, or age 60 or over; it states no income figures¹⁰¹¹. Its Family Law Access Project gives free legal assistance and document preparation for the Larson Justice Center in Indio and the Riverside Superior Court, covering dissolution, domestic violence restraining orders, paternity, child custody and visitation, child support and spousal support¹.

• Intake: call (888) 245-4257 or start an online intake at bit.ly/FLAPIntake; an ICLS representative calls back to complete the application and confirm eligibility¹. The senior line is (800) 977-4257¹⁰.
• Hotline hours: Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., closed Saturday and Sunday¹⁰.
• Riverside office: 1040 Iowa Avenue, Suite 109, Riverside, CA 92507¹⁰. The page lists no office hours separate from the hotline.
• Family Law Access Project days: Wednesdays by appointment, remotely; Thursdays by appointment, remotely “until further notice” and otherwise in person in the basement of the Larson Justice Center, 46-200 Oasis Street, Indio, CA 92201¹.
• Indio: ICLS lists a mailing address, P.O. Box 10650, Indio, CA 92202, and states that walk-ins are not accepted there; the Family Law Access Project’s appointment line is 760-342-1591¹¹⁰.

Riverside Legal Aid is the working name of the Public Service Law Corporation, which the Riverside County Bar Association founded in 1982; the two names are one organization⁴. It lists dissolutions, spousal and child support, child custody and visitation, petitions to establish paternity and domestic violence restraining orders, and says its help is free for those who qualify, with a “qualified low-income residents of Riverside County” eligibility statement and no income figures².

Source: the organization’s home and contact pages²³.

Sources disagree A third-party directory of legal aid programs lists the Riverside number as (951) 682-5213⁵. The organization’s own site lists (951) 682-7968²³. The site is the better guide; the directory page carries no update date.

Self Help Legal Services is the court department that gives legal assistance in family law, evictions, small claims, name changes, guardianship, conservatorship, probate and restraining orders⁷. The family law flyer revised September 17, 2025 says it provides self-represented people with remote assistance, links to forms and explanations of court process and procedure⁶.

• Phone: 951-274-4499 or 760-393-2163, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.; closed on holidays and the last Friday of every month⁶.
• Covers: divorce, legal separation and nullity; paternity cases; preparing for a mandatory settlement conference; asking the judge to make or change orders on support, custody and visitation⁶.
• Online workshops and clinics: a Dissolution Workshop, Default Judgment Workshop, Family Law Clinic, Judgment Review Clinic and Mandatory Settlement Conference Clinic, with schedules at riverside.courts.ca.gov/SelfHelpEvents⁶.

The court’s packets print the limit: staff are not the reader’s private attorney, there is no attorney-client relationship, staff cannot give legal advice on individual facts, staff may help the other party in the case, and communications with staff are not confidential⁸. The court’s self-help page adds that staff can explain court procedures but cannot tell anyone what choice to make⁷. The Judicial Council lists Riverside’s family law facilitator, a court-appointed lawyer who helps people without lawyers with support questions, at 4175 Main Street with the same 951-274-4499 line⁹. Locations and what staff can and cannot do are on the Self-Help Center page.

The library is open to the public, with three branches, and the home page lists these hours¹⁶:

Sources disagree The Temecula hours on the library’s home page are Tuesday to Thursday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.¹⁶, and its FAQ gives 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.¹⁷. Call 951-693-8902 before going.

Library staff can help patrons locate forms but, in the library’s words, cannot select forms or assist in preparing them¹⁷. The library’s paid services are a document retrieval and delivery service: $10 for pages 1 to 20, $1 for each extra page and a $20 rush fee for a four-hour turnaround, and staff do not do legal research for patrons¹⁸. The clinics on the home page were probate and consumer-rights clinics, not family law¹⁶.

The Riverside County Bar Association’s Lawyer Referral Service charges $40 for the initial consultation in most matters, for a session of up to 30 minutes; family law is a listed area; attorneys set their own fees afterward. Phones are (951) 682-7520 for western Riverside County and (760) 568-5555 for the desert and Coachella Valley, Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.¹². The State Bar’s list of certified services includes it as number 038, updated July 14, 2026¹³. California Courts’ self-help guide describes referral services as offering 30-minute meetings for a small fee, around $40¹⁴.

The State Bar funds legal aid organizations serving Californians with low and moderate incomes in areas that include custody and family law, and points to LawHelpCA.org, a search tool maintained by the Legal Aid Association of California; the State Bar page gives no income thresholds¹⁵¹⁹. The self-help guide says eligibility for free or low-cost legal aid “will depend on your income and type of legal problem”¹⁴.