Laura’s story

With your support, more people like Laura* can get the help they need before a problem becomes a crisis.

She owed $12,000 for a property she never bought.

At 18 years old, Laura had no reason to think anything was afoot until the letters started arriving.

At first, Laura assumed it was a mistake. The notices were about unpaid property fees for a home in another state, which Laura didn’t recognise. Assuming it was an error, Laura tried to ignore the growing pile of ‘mistake’ mail.

But unfortunately for Laura, the letters kept coming, and the amount they claimed Laura owed kept growing. Concerned, Laura followed up to get an explanation of the mistake.

But, what Laura discovered was deeply unsettling.

The house that wasn’t hers, but the debt that was.

Someone had used her identity to buy a property. On paper, it was in her name. On paper, the debt was hers too.

Laura didn’t have a lawyer. She didn’t have spare money. She didn’t know where to start. So she carried the stress for years, trying to get on with her life while the letters kept coming and the amount kept growing.

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“I was a freshly 18 year old that had no idea about property, let alone somebody telling me that a property was in my name and how that even happened.“

– Laura

How Justice Connect helped Laura

When Laura finally came to Justice Connect, our team didn’t just tell her to try somewhere else. We sat down with her, mapped out what had happened from the very beginning, and worked through the paperwork, debt and legal history that had built up over years.

That meant doing the intake work, assessing the case, preparing it properly, and helping move it through a legal system Laura should never have had to face alone. Justice Connect’s lawyer worked alongside a pro bono partner firm to defend her, stop the debt from growing, and push for her name to be removed from the title.

It worked. The $12,000 debt has been cleared. Her name is being removed from the title. And after nearly two decades, Laura is finally getting her life back. Justice Connect is still with her until the job is fully done.

Help us close the justice gap

This is what the justice gap looks like. Not a headline. Not a statistic. A real person carrying fear, debt and uncertainty for years because legal help was out of reach.

By the time Laura got legal help, she had been living with this for more than a decade. She had four children. She was trying to make ends meet on a very low income. And she was still facing the possibility of bankruptcy for something that was never hers.

A donation to Justice Connect means closing the justice gap for someone else like Laura.

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*Our client’s name has been changed to protect their identity.

Rebuilding safety and confidence

Roger*, a 75-year-old man living with an intellectual disability, reached out to Justice Connect when he began feeling unsafe in his own home. His nephew had started arriving uninvited and damaging his property. Unsure of his rights and feeling increasingly unsafe, Roger reached out for help.

Through our Health Justice Partnership, Roger was connected with our lawyer Sadie. It was clear to her that Roger was at risk of elder abuse and needed urgent support to protect both his home and his wellbeing. With Sadie’s help, Roger received clear legal advice confirming his nephew had no legal right to stay at his home, which empowered him to take action. With stronger protections in place and a clearer understanding of his rights, Roger could return to enjoying the independence he valued.

When speaking about Roger’s experience, Sadie told us:
“You could see the relief. He finally felt safe and reassured that his home was his own again.”

Andrew’s story

Tools turning knowledge into action

Andrew founded his charity, Pathalogical Demand Avoidance (PDA) Collective with the goal of easing the challenges faced by families and caregivers of people navigating PDA.

When he realised he’d need help understanding the legal requirements of starting a charity, he thought the process would be challenging. But instead of giving up he turned to our suite of online self-help tools, including the Getting Started Tool.

After using the tool, he told us: “The information was really clear on issues and problems. I could follow the logic, and the tips were reassuring.”

Andrew’s story shows the power of the right information, delivered in the right way, at the right time. By making compliance manageable, our resources free up community leaders to spend their energy where it belongs: delivering impact, not battling paperwork.

Reflecting on the journey, Andrew said: “I’ve been able to divert some agency into the charity and feel like I’m actually doing something to help my community and broader society in the long run.”