Legal aid and equity in house.

[citybranch]

I read online that anyone with over £100k equity in their home would not be eligible for legal aid.

Could a person with well over this amount in equity actually lie (e.g. say they were renting the house) in order to qualify? This person is on a low income.

How do you prove the equity in these cases?

Also, the person has refused mediation twice. A friend told me that this also makes you ineligible for legal aid. Can't find any info about this online though. Anyone know?

Thanks

[pookamoo]

I think and it was a long time ago I worked in family law, when i was training, that you can still get legal aid if you have equity in the house, but they put what is known as a "statutory charge" on the property, so that if it is sold, the money is repaid. This does not mean the house will have to be sold, just that if it is sold they can be refunded.