Legal Aid Vs False Allegations for Domestic Abuse

[EChristie51]

Hello,

I have a question about what false allegations can achieve in divorce settlements.

I have a friend which admits to have falsely accused her husband of financial and emotional abuse to a women's domestic hotline.

She admits there was no abuse, but being a housewife she said couldn't afford the legal fees and refused to go to mediation that her ex paid for.

Her ex paid for everything during the separation, even for one year after the divorce was final. He paid for all her bills, the mortgage, even for her personal mobile. She claimed benefits and got cash in hand from him and his mother too sometimes. But she said it wasn't enough, and she wanted the house outright.

She found a family solicitor that guided her through the process and she was able to gain legal aid and the judge decided she didn't have to pay it back.

In this case, where is the actual fraud?
Is it against the women's charity for lying about the allegations?
Or is it against legal aid, for even though the application is from the charity?

Any clarification here is helpful.

Both your friend is a cunt and lying about being abused for financial gain is sickening to those who have actually lived through it. I can’t wait until karma fucks her

The Solicitor will report her if they find out. She would then have to repay the legal aid and probably be prosecuted for fraud.

She says it isn't fraud, she received legal aid automatically when she made the allegations.

She even did it twice, once for the financial hearing and a second time for child custody.

So, even if it's morally wrong. I think she found a loophole.

It's both fraud and deliberately misleading the court. Depending on what happened, there are very serious legal consequences. If a friend be aware, these types of people, in my professional experience, are abusive both to family and friends even when on the surface nice, but that they are capable of this action indicates manipulation being normal to them.

I don’t honestly know how you can be friends with this person !

to falsely accuse someone of this is utterly despicable - the impact to their life is beyond reproach, and she has kids caught up in it ! Disgusting

she’s also completely demeaning dv and undermining every other woman who is actually going through it.

id be reporting her to the solicitors /courts/police

ultimately she is at fault for making a fraudulent claim and lying through her teeth

its fraud because the legal aid grant was granted on the back of false allegations. This makes me so angry, she is a hateful women using up scarce resources that others really need and tarred an innocent man, making it easy for the a anti women brigade to spout their hateful rubbish. Hopefully karma will bite her on the arse.

My DP was never accused of DA at any point by his ex girlfriend. But she managed to get legal aid for a child arrangements case. DP absolutely (and I can say that after 8 years of him vs her 2 months of dating him) is not abusive. It was the other way around, and HE got legal aid (eventually! It took a while as his GP initially refused to write a letter despite him having been to see them after she attacked him in public, to be signed off work with stress of her abusive actions).
How she ever got the legal aid, I'll never know but knowing the taxes we pay go towards it definitely pisses me off at those who lie to get it.
Given she didn't make any DA allegations in the 5 years in and out of court, I don't understand why it was never questioned once.

It’s a criminal offence to lie on the application for legal aid so if she has done so, she can be prosecuted. The form makes this very clear. So no, she didn't find a loophole, she just hasn’t got caught (yet).

See signature page of the form

False allegations are vanishingly rare so I doubt this is true. Are you sure she wasnt abused?

@bigkahunaburger women can and do lie

I work in this field and it is extremely rare.

As someone who's going through this right now and qualifies for legal aid because of actual DV but has to pay £401 for every bit of legal aid advice I receive because I work and actually pay my dues, your friend is a greedy fucker and I hope she gets found out.

Of course it's fraud. She got the money by making false allegations. More fool her for blabbing about it. But these types can rarely keep their mouths shut.

then you should know that women can and do abuse men and can and do lie. Yes not so prevalent and much less publicised but does happen and should not be minimised either.

no surprise that in this ste a women is the lowest of the low, commits fraud and hideous lies and guess what- it’s the man’s fault !!

millymollymoomoo

Im not minimising abuse or saying its the mans fault.

Im saying that it is far far more likely that she was abused and is lying to her friend (for reasons of shame, pride etc) that she wasnt, than the fact she actually lied to get financial support. There is quite the process, she would have to be an oscar winning actress, and I find it hard to believe. I am aware it happens, but I have never personally come across it. (Im a social worker).

As for women abusing men (which I never commented on), again that is vanishingly rare. It exists, and is awful - anyone being abused is awful - but it is rare. Stating that is not minimising it. I also dont see the relevance of that in this thread.

My partner who is a male was recently recognised as the survivor of harassment and domestic abuse after a legal aid case was brought against him by Refuge in support of false accusations his ex was making due to him winning majority custody of his son (probably because the child court saw the videos we have of her throwing knives at the young twelve year old boy)

However, the process of a second court case so soon after the child court case was very heavy handed and stressful. We were meant to be getting married (we've been together for 10 years) and we had to cancel our wedding due to the cost of his legal fees (he did not have legal aid).

I also had a very stressful miscarriage during the process, which I know was not helped by the traumatic court situation (where she accused me of vile things too)

It all came out in the wash during the court case brought against my partner for alleged abuse due to our abundant evidence of her violence and he disgraceful behaviour during the court sittings. However, we estimate it cost us 16k with time we had to take off work and legal fees incurred. Wedding still our sacrifice.

I've been in touch with Refuge to ask why their social workers didn't think to read over the substantial child case papers and police reports before putting us through this. They are completely ignoring me. I've involved the local MP. I don't want to damage funding to a women's organisation and I don't directly blame them, but I would like a meeting and to be heard on how this awful situation has impacted us all over the last year.

If anyone has any legal advice I'd really appreciate it. I don't know how to let it lie and just accept the legal aid which was stolen so maliciously from genuine victims.

Just to add, I worked in a domestic abuse charity during Covid and I saw many many genuine and harrowing cases of domestic violence, but I also saw people manipulate and take advantage of the protection systems in place for vengeance.