When Beverly initially came to Legal Aid of West Virginia, she was processed as a divorce case client. She had filed for divorce from her husband, but the case turned out to be much more.

Beverly’s husband and step-son were stalking her and had fired at least six shots into a moving vehicle in an attempt to kill her. After the attempted murder, law enforcement advised Beverly to stay out of sight. Her husband was captured, but her step-son evaded authorities and was possibly still pursuing her.

Because of the continued threat, Beverly was taken into protective custody and was unable to go to work. Her absence resulted in the company terminating her employment. Beverly now had no job, and when she tried to get unemployment benefits, she was rejected because her employer told the unemployment office she quit.

Her Legal Aid representation quickly filed an appeal, and the unemployment judgment was reversed. After being left without any source of income for several months, Beverly was finally able to start making some ends meet again when she received full backpay of her unemployment benefits. The divorce was also successful, and Beverly now has a protective order against her ex-husband and step-son.

Today, Beverly is using her time away from work to go to school and became a paralegal so she can help people who have experiences like she did. One day, she hopes to work alongside the attorneys and paralegals who helped her take control of her life again.