Refused legal aid

[Mylifestartstoday]

The clients capital has been assessed at an amount which makes her liable to be refused legal aid as it appears that the probable cost to the client of continuing action would not exceed the assessed contribution.

Can someone explain what this means? It’s for a divorce, STBXH is making it go to court so I have to give up (he’s financially abusive), he looked after all finances, and I struggle now to understand things. Thanks in advance

It means you have the money to pay for a lawyer yourself.

It means the client has the money to pay for her own legal counsel.

The only asset I have is a shared ownership home. I own 40% of it, the housing association own the rest. If I sell it, then myself and my children would be homeless. No one would rent to me as I receive PIP and am unable to work, and no one would rent to a benefits claimant. My STBXH wouldn’t have the children, so they need somewhere to live. I have no family at all left who I could live with.
I thought that might be the case, looks like his endeavours have paid off. If ever anyone is thinking about being a SAHM, please please don’t or you’ll be left in the same position as myself 20 years down the line.

Hi. I think you need some independent legal advice. You can often get at least an initial free hour with a solicitor through your local Citizens Advice Bureau if you can’t afford to pay for it yourself. It is very difficult to get legal aid these days, even with domestic abuse but it is worth ensuring with a solicitor who understands all the ins and outs whether it’s correct that you definitely can’t access legal aid in your position. I saw this article recently suggesting that they have overturned this rule about having to use finances which are tied up in a home that you and/or children are living in, to pay for legal counsel. It might be helpful to you.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/society/2020/dec/18/moj-drops-imaginary-capital

As you say, your children need somewhere to live (although many places do rent to benefits claimants ok if it came to that). If you can’t access legal aid then your options would be selling and finding a private rental instead, or self representing which can be daunting in the situation of domestic abuse in particular, but it is often done these days. You might take advice from a McKenzie friend if you decide to go down that road.

I think I may have to self represent. We’ve had the first hearing, with the next scheduled in May 2021. We’re currently having a pensions actuary look at the pensions (court ordered as he wouldn’t even consider doing that), so maybe once that’s in then I could do it myself, especially if it’s still online by then so I wouldn’t have to be in the same room as him.

I tried every single letting agency in the area. I need to stay within travelling distance of school, and not one would even consider me. As soon as I mentioned being on benefits, the door was closed on me. Rentals here are going so quickly that they can afford to be very choosy, and people envisage benefits claimants to be trouble. I used to have a very good job, gave it up 20 years ago as he insisted I was a SAHM, then I became unwell and he had well and truly got me into a place where I couldn’t do anything alone. Now of course, he’s moved on with the OW and we are discarded with nothing. He stole all our money and spent it on his double life, when he first left we had to rely on food parcels as he cleaned the bank account out. I had never claimed benefits before, now I have to to survive. It’s a horrible position to be in,I would never have believed he would have left is in such an awful position.

Self represent, it will be daunting but you can get legal advice free from CAB or rightsofwomen.org.uk/ so one of them may be able to help.

Assuming you have copied the first paragraph of your first post from a letter received from the LAA, why have you not asked your solicitor? There are a number of reasons why your application might have that result, but there's only one legal professional who is best placed to answer your question, and the chances are they're not posting on this thread.

@Collaborate because my solicitor isn’t at work over the Christmas period, I’m impatient, I’m stressed, and I thought this forum was for legal queries. Which this is. I’ve had some great advice, different organisations to look at, which my solicitor probably wouldn’t have known about/given me so it’s been a perfect platform to ask the question

Sorry to hear you're in such a shitty position OP. I self represented at family court (child access and residency) when my legal aid got denied and was successful. However, the intricacies of finance might be difficult to navigate against a barrister

The first £100k of equity in your home is not counted as your capital for assessment purposes. Also disregarded is the subject matter of the dispute. Your solicitor should be able to tell you whether the LAA has applied theses principles properly when assessing your eligibility.

Thank you @Collaborate. The equity is £103,000, so all might not be lost when I get to speak with the solicitor. Thank you