Entitled for legal aid, but stuck.... HELP ME PLS!!

[ItLookHardToStartNewLife]

...am so confused and stuck! I just finished my maternity leave and from 1st of April I started as a self employed, working from home. for now only as a "part time" which gives me around £400-£700 per month. I was told that I will be entitled for legal aid, but need to give them letter from my accountant. I don't have any accountant as at the moment my income is quite small and am doing all accounting by my self. With out letter from accountant I will not get any legal aid :(. I cant afford to pay for accountant or solicitor :(
I need to get divorce, but now am totally stuck!!

Any advice for me please??

[herdingcats]

Beware if you get legal aid ,it is not definate that you would not havevto pay it back.
My Dneice has just had the shock of her life after receiving it . Bill cmae to £2600, divorce settlement was only £2200( £500 of which it was agreed would pay off an overdraft her XH ran up, so £1700 left. She has been told 6 months after court award that they want the money she got back ,including the money paid off his overdraft.
Not only that she was made redundant in January so has no income apart from benefit at the moment

[ItLookHardToStartNewLife]

OMG!
how do people get divorce then?? Or can any one afford, but just me not??
this is more hard I thought :(

[Collaborate]

I will look at the guidance for you on Tuesday.

[mumblechum1]

Herding Cats, your neice should have been told in writing by her solicitor and the LSC on numerous occasions that public funding has to be paid back in certain circumstances.

OP, you can issue a divorce petition yourself, there's tons of info on the court service website, but you may need help to sort out any money issues.

[ItLookHardToStartNewLife]

thank you Collaborate

[ItLookHardToStartNewLife]

mumblechum1: i will have a look at the website one more time.
and yes, I really need help cos of finances and house, debts..why it must be so hard and difficult to get divorce..

[mumblechum1]

TBH, it's not that hard, but it is expensive in terms of costs.

I'm a divorce lawyer (pt) and I try to put it in terms of what's at stake. So if your joint assets are, say, £300k and you're looking to get £200k from that, the £2k you spend arguing about it is around 1% of the total take, or 4% of the extra £50k over and above the half way mark.

So try to put the costs in perspective against what you may well get back if you get a good lawyer fighting for you.

[herdingcats]

mumblechum1- she was never given written guidence on the fact. But besides that her solicitor ( junior 1st year of qualification) was informed when the the monies had all cleared from the house sale, and she said get the conveyencing solicitor to hold it until it is clear that it does not have to be paid back to Legal aid people. Conveyencing solicitor refused. My niece informed divorce solicitor of this. She then wrote and said that's fine you just accept the cheque ,minus payment to be made for overdraft, its all settled. Also stated as it was such a small amount nothing would have to be paid back. All in all it would seem proceures were not carried out correctly.
ILHTSNL- sorry for hijack .I do hope you get sorted out , I was divorced as well and it all seems very complicated. I was of no help to my niece as rules are different where I did my divorce.

[Collaborate]

OP - take a look at this:

calculator.communitylegaladvice.org.uk/ecalc/guidance.asp

Look at para 5.2.6 (on page 8 if you print it out).

Also look at para 12.2.5 which sets out acceptable evidence of income. Your bank statements should be enough. You shouldn't need an accountant's letter. That's just silly and your solicitor is being over protective. Print off this guidance and take it with you.

[ItLookHardToStartNewLife]

COLLABORATE: thank you so much! :)
that's very well explained, I will print it and take it with me to my solicitor.