We have a contract with the Legal Services Commission (LSC) to provide advice under the Legal Help scheme. The LSC applies a means and merits test to most applicationsYou will need to provide us with proof of income or benefits and savings so we can assess your eligibility.
If you need to go to Court depending on your financial circumstances and the nature of your case, Public Funding may be available to assist you with the cost of your case. The LSC applies a "means and merits" test to almost all applications for these levels of funding. We can advise on the merits of your family law case. To check your financial eligibility you can use the eligibility calculator on the Legal Services Commission website.
If your case concerns money or property, and you keep or gain anything as a result of publicly funded family law proceedings, then you may have to pay back some or all of your legal fees to the LSC under the "statutory charge". We have to keep you regularly updated about the level of your costs (including costs estimates for work still to be done), so you know the likely level of charge you will eventually face.
If you are a parent involved in care proceedings you are entitled to non means/non merit tested public funding and the statutory charge does not apply. Children who are involved in care proceedings are also entitled to automatic public funding. Grandparents involved in care proceedings are not automatically entitled to legal aid and funding is subject to the means and merits test referred to above
