I live in Texas. My brother, who lives in Ohio, is a 100 service connected disabled veteran. He receives a disability payment of approximat...

Question

I live in Texas. My brother, who lives in Ohio, is a 100% service connected disabled veteran. He receives a disability payment of approximately $3,000 monthly, none of which is taxable, or as I understand it...income.

He was recently charged with a misdemeanor and has a court date. He was told by the Judge that he does not qualify for a court appointed attorney because he makes too much money.

If he has no income and only receives disability, how can a judge determine that his "income" prohibits him from being entitled to a court appointed attorney?

Answer

In Ohio, what the IRS considers "income" and what a local judge considers income are two different things. For instance, a retired billionaire may have made no money in the past three years because he quit his job. But that does not mean that he is indigent to the point that a judge would allow an attorney to be appointed by the court free of charge to represent him.

While I would not compare your brother to a retired billionaire, the point is the same, "Indigent" is something different than someone who does not have a taxable income.