Also known as: poverties · indigence · pauperism
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An economic condition of having insufficient income or resources to provide for basic living needs.
Marie transfers farmland to Dakota as trustee. The trust directs low-interest loans to local family farms and care for working animals. Horizon Livestock objects that the distributions favor private interests. A court must decide whether the purpose qualifies as relief of poverty under the charitable trust statute.
Tiana is arrested on federal charges and tells the magistrate she cannot afford counsel. Authorities question her without providing a lawyer. The court must determine whether her poverty requires appointment of counsel from the initial appearance onward.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
The city condemns homes in a low-income area citing blight from extreme poverty. Owners challenge the taking as serving private rather than public use. The court weighs whether eliminating poverty-related conditions justifies the condemnation.
A state law restricts public funding for abortions. Paige Porter, living below the poverty line, cannot obtain the procedure without assistance. The court examines whether poverty-based barriers implicate constitutional protections.
Property-poor districts receive less per-pupil funding than wealthy ones. Parents in the low-income district sue, claiming the system denies equal educational opportunity. The court considers whether poverty constitutes a suspect classification.
Diego loses his private lawyer before sentencing after his funds run out. He seeks appointed counsel for his direct appeal. The court of appeals must decide whether poverty entitles him to representation through the appellate stage.
No. Courts treat poverty as a nonsuspect classification. Statutes that disadvantage the poor receive rational-basis review unless they directly burden a fundamental right such as marriage.
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Model Rule 1.8(e)(2) permits a lawyer representing an indigent client to pay court costs and expenses of litigation. The client must lack resources to cover filing fees, experts, or discovery costs.
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Yes. Uniform Trust Code section 405(a) expressly lists relief of poverty as one of the recognized charitable purposes for which a trust may be created.
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No. Equal protection prohibits incarcerating a defendant solely because of inability to pay a fine that a wealthier person could satisfy by payment.
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Restrictions that directly and substantially interfere with the right to marry on the basis of poverty are subject to strict scrutiny and are usually invalid.
…all likely to influence and to color one's thinking and conclusions about abortion. In addition, population growth, pollution, poverty, and racial overtones tend to complicate and not to simplify the problem. Our task, of course, is to resolve the issue by constitutional measurement, free of emotion and of predilection.…