Return to Written Question 33-13(4) asked by Mr. Krutko to the Minister of Justice on the availability of legal aid for family law issues.
Availability of Legal Aid for Family Law Issues
The Legal Services Board does not normally provide a lawyer for maintenance enforcement proceedings. In these proceedings the Court is enquiring into the availability of the individual to make payments which have been previously ordered by a court. Usually there are no legal issues in these proceedings.
However, the board may choose to authorize a lawyer representing a legal aid recipient to deal with child support and maintenance issues in court. When the circumstances do not necessitate an immediate authorization, the board may decline to make such an authorization unless a lawyer supplies a written opinion stating that it is reasonable under the circumstances to proceed. The Executive Director of the Legal Services Board must determine the reasonableness of any matter, taking into account the possibility of success, the cost of the legal services and the results which might be obtained.
Persons seeking child support and maintenance and those responding to applications for child support and maintenance have the same access to legal aid.
The following figures include all approved legal aid cases that have a child support process entered for the corresponding fiscal year. This information is available only from April 1, 1994, when use of the Legal Aid Information system was begun.
122 men and 467 women for 1994/95, 95 men and 345 women for 1995/96, 83 men and 296 women for 1996/97, and for the current fiscal year there have been 20 men and 82 women who have been approved for legal aid in the area of maintenance, as of June.
A person who is financially ineligible for legal aid may of course hire a lawyer to assist them. Other actions in regards to legal counselling for those who are ineligible for legal aid are as follows:
A person who does not have a lawyer has the right to appear in court and speak for themselves. They should always do this rather than miss court.
Some legal assistance may be obtained from the LawLine operated by volunteer lawyers and the Legal Services Board.
Many lawyers in private practice in the family law area are willing to give a person an initial interview without charge.
In Territorial Court, it may be possible to obtain limited assistance from a court worker employed by one of the legal services centres.
The lawyers employed in the five regional legal services centres may be able to provide summary legal advise depending on their time commitments.
And finally, a person facing maintenance enforcement proceedings can seek on their own to have enforcement suspended, first through negotiation with the Maintenance Enforcement Office, and secondly by speaking for themselves in court.