Legal aid is a government scheme to help you to pay for family mediation, legal advice, and representation at court. Since the law changed in 2013 it has become harder to get legal aid, but some people still can. Whether or not you can get legal aid depends on:

• what legal problem you have,
• how much money you earn, or receive, in benefits,
• any savings you have,
• any property you own, and,
• how good your case is (a solicitor can help you work this out).

You can only get legal aid for certain kinds of problems. You may be able to get legal aid if:

• You want to go to mediation to help sort out problems with your ex such as arrangements for your children, or your finances when you separate.
• You want to get a court order to protect you from your ex or another family member who is abusive to you. This type of order is often called an injunction or a non-molestation order. You might also need an order that says the abusive person can’t come to or live where you live for a certain amount of time. This is called an occupation order.
• You have suffered or are likely to suffer domestic abuse from your ex and you want legal advice about your divorce or the dissolution of your civil partnership, sorting out your finances, or the arrangements for your children. You will need evidence of domestic abuse - see step 2 below.
• Your case involves a child (for example, perhaps you are trying to make arrangements about who your child should live with) and that child is at risk of abuse from the person involved in the case (for example, your ex). You will need to provide evidence of child abuse - see step 2 below.
• You are at risk of being forced to marry against your will and you want advice about applying for a court order to stop this.
• Social services are involved in the care, supervision or protection of your children. (In cases where social services apply to the court for an order about your child you will automatically get legal aid if you have parental responsibility for them.)
• Your child has been taken out of the UK without your permission or you are trying to stop someone from taking your child out of the UK without your permission.
• Your child has been taken without your permission to somewhere else within the UK.
• You are trying to make sure that international or European agreements about your children or maintenance agreements are put in place.

Other family problems

These are not the only family problems you may be able to get legal aid for, but they are the most common. Be sure to ask a solicitor who specialises in family law to check if your legal problem is covered under legal aid.

Exceptional Case Funding

In very rare circumstances you may be able to get something called Exceptional Case Funding. It is only available to people who have a good case, a low income, few savings, and who otherwise won’t get to benefit from their human rights. For more information about exceptional funding and how to apply for it, look at the Public Law Project’s guide to Exceptional Case Funding. Beware that applying for this special type of funding is not at all easy and ideally you really need to try and find a family law solicitor who does legal aid work to help you apply.

If you or your child have experienced abuse or are at risk of domestic abuse and you want legal aid to apply for an order to protect you from the person abusing you, you don't need to get evidence of the abuse to apply for legal aid - skip this section and go to Step 3.

If you or your child haven’t experienced abuse and are not at risk of domestic abuse you don’t need to read this bit - skip this section and go to Step 3.

What counts as domestic abuse?

Domestic abuse in relationships (and among family members) is common. Domestic abuse is behaviour, usually by a partner or ex-partner, (but also by a family member or carer), that is controlling, coercive, threatening, degrading or violent. It can affect anyone – whatever your gender or sexuality.

Abuse can take many different forms - it doesn’t just mean physical violence. It can be:

• emotional,
• psychological,
• economic, including financial,
  physical, and
• sexual.

If you think you may have been or may be a victim of domestic abuse a good place to start looking for information, help and support is in our Top Picks. Just search Domestic violence in our search box and the best information available online will come up.

If you have experienced domestic abuse from your ex (or another family member) you may be able to get legal aid to pay for advice about your separation or your children, as long as you are on a low income.
Unfortunately, when it comes to getting legal aid, your word about what you have suffered is not enough. The law says that you need evidence to prove what you have been through. There are complicated rules about what the government accepts as evidence but a solicitor can explain these to you. You will need to find a solicitor who specialises in family law and who does legal aid work. Don’t worry - we explain more how to do this later.

A solicitor will need information about your problem, your financial situation, and the abuse you have experienced from the other person involved before they can decide if you should apply for legal aid with their help. When you have worked this out with the solicitor, you then need to provide all your evidence for your application. The solicitor should be able to tell you what evidence they need from you, and how to go about getting it. Ask them to write it down so you have a handy list of what you need to provide.

To get legal aid you must be on a low income and have little in the way of savings, or other assets such as property or valuable items. If you have a new partner (not the one you are separating from or are separated from and need advice about) their income counts too when working out if you can get legal aid.

You can get an idea of whether or not you can get legal aid by using this online tool: Check if you can get legal aid. But, it is best to see a solicitor to check.

There are strict limits on the amount of income or savings you can have if you want to apply for legal aid. A solicitor can explain these and work out if you can get legal aid. If your case is about domestic abuse you may be able to get legal aid even if you go over the income or savings limits but you are likely to have to pay a monthly contribution if you are in this situation.

Step 4 tells you what financial evidence you need to get together before going to see a solicitor.

You can only apply for legal aid through a solicitor. It is really important to find a solicitor that specialises in family law. The best place to start is by looking at Resolution. Resolution is the leading organisation for family lawyers who believe in a constructive, non-confrontational approach to family law problems. You can search for a family law solicitor in your area. Only certain firms of solicitors do legal aid work now. If you look on the Resolution site you can see which solicitors near you do legal aid - look for the green tick next to the words ‘Accepts legal aid’ below their name.

If the solicitor you contact says your legal problem isn’t covered by legal aid, it’s worth asking another solicitor for their view. The rules about what solicitors can and can’t advise on under legal aid are really quite complicated and there is a risk, because of this, that you get incorrect advice. So, it's really important that you speak to a family law solicitor who specialises in the particular problem you want help with.

Booking your appointment

When you book your appointment with a solicitor to see if you can get legal aid you should be told exactly what you need to take. You will need to take proof of ID and proof of your address. To show what your financial situation is you will usually need some or all of the following:  

• Bank statements for all bank accounts you have (in your own name and with anyone else) for the last three months,
• Pay slips for the last three months,
• An up to date letter setting out what benefits you get (this may mean several letters),
• Evidence about the rent or mortgage you pay - if this isn’t clear from your bank statements,
• Evidence about what you pay out in childcare, - again, if this isn’t clear from your bank statements,
• Evidence about what you pay out in maintenance or receive as maintenance, - again, if this isn’t clear from your bank statements.

The solicitor will work out if you can get legal aid for your particular problem and make sure they have all your evidence so that they can apply for legal aid for you.  The rules about all the financial evidence you need to apply for legal aid are very strict. Without the right evidence the solicitor will not be able to help you get legal aid. So, it is really important to get everything the solicitor asks for, as quickly as you can. The solicitor can only start work for you under legal aid once they get a letter from the government saying you are entitled to legal aid. This can take some time, unless the solicitor thinks they can apply for emergency funding for you. Be aware that if you do get legal aid, it might not cover all the costs of your case. Depending on your financial circumstances you may need to:

• Pay some of the costs upfront. This could be out of your income each month or from any savings you have.
• Pay back some of the costs at the end of your case if you get money or property from your case.

If you can’t get legal aid you will either need find the money to pay for your legal costs or you will need to handle the problem yourself. If you decide you can find some money to pay to see a solicitor, read on for our three top tips about how to find a good one.

Our three top tips for finding a solicitor

1. Go to the Resolution website for a good family law solicitor or follow up on a recommendation from a friend or relative. Another way to see if a firm of solicitors is well run and gives good client care is to see if it has been awarded the Law Society’s quality mark - Lexcel. If a firm has this, it should tell you by advertising it on its website and in its offices.
2. Phone around different firms and ask some questions about how they charge. Many firms charge by an hourly rate. Other firms will do particular bits of work for a set amount - often called fixed fee work or ‘pay as you go’. Some firms will offer a first appointment, for a fixed fee. Some firms might give you a very short initial appointment for free - say for 20 minutes or half an hour. If you then want the solicitor to do more work for you, many firms will expect you to pay a chunk of money up front - often called 'money on account'. Sometimes you might be able to negotiate how you pay your bill. For example you could ask to pay a set amount each month, like a direct debit for your gas or water bill, until all the costs are paid off.
3. Be prepared - the more you prepare before you meet your solicitor, the more you'll get out of it. Make a list of the main things you need to tell them or the questions you have. Get together any paperwork that might be useful and put it in order. This will make it quicker and easier for the solicitor to understand your problem and give you helpful advice. For more helpful tips on seeing a solicitor take a look at How to prepare for seeing a solicitor or adviser.

If you can’t get legal aid and you can’t afford to pay a solicitor don’t give up! There are other places you can go for help, depending on what your problem is about.

Our survival guides help you understand divorce and family mediation, how to divide the home and money when you divorce, and how to agree where the children will live and when they will see their other parent. If you really need to go to court about the financial settlement as part of a divorce or go to court about where the children should live our How to guides can help you through the process.

As you go through these guides, you will see places where we suggest you get some legal advice if you can possibly afford it. We only do this when we think it will be really useful. We have teamed up with Resolution to provide a panel of family law solicitors that can help you at the most important points of your family case for a reduced, fixed fee. We set out clearly what the solicitor can advise you on and how much it will cost you. There are no hidden extras. Have a look at Getting affordable advice from a family solicitor from Advicenow for more information on how it works.

If you have a different problem start by looking at our Help with Family Problems section where you will find lots of step by step guides on different family law issues.

You can also look at our Help Directory. Go to the section called Family problems to see where you might be able to get free legal advice from. Go to the section called Representing yourself at court or tribunal for information on how you might be able to get a lawyer to represent you for free.

Disclaimer

The information in this guide applies to England and Wales and is for general purposes only. The law may be different if you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland.

The law is complicated. We have simplified things in the guide to give you an idea of how the law applies to you. Please don't rely on this guide as a complete statement of the law. We recommend you try and get advice from the sources we have suggested.

Acknowledgements
    
November 2023

This guide was updated thanks to funding from the Ministry of Justice.

Advicenow would like to thank all those who provided feedback and advice on this guide.

    
January 2022

This guide was written, produced and updated by Advicenow with funding from the Litigant in Person Support Strategy.

Advicenow would like to thank all those who provided feedback and advice on this guide, particularly Amanda Sawyer and Jacqui Dunn, of Simpson Millar LLP.

If you would like this guide in another format please email [email protected]