We have contracts with the Legal Services Commission (LSC) to provide the full range of family law services, including mediation. We can provide basic funding under the Legal Help scheme. This is means tested, and we need proof of income and savings to be able to assess if you are eligible for this.
For court cases, there is a different form of legal aid (or "public funding"). 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. You can check on your financial eligibility using 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 (where social services go to court to remove a child from his or her family) you are entitled to public funding whatever your means, and the statutory charge will not apply. Children who are involved in care proceedings are also entitled to this sort of automatic public funding.
