What is Legal Aid?
Posted By on September 22, 2011
Legal aid tends to be offered free of charge as a means of providing people with the adequate legal advice and services, these people would normally not be able to meet the associated costs of hiring a solicitor. Legal aid is in place to help people in difficult situations. It allows them to go through necessary and important legal proceedings which would otherwise be unobtainable as they would be unable to meet the costs of the legal process. Financial support for legal aid is funded by special public funds that are set up by the government and run by the Legal Services Commission (LSC).
If someone was to receive legal aid in order to provide them with help at court, all the advice and representation of a solicitor would be financed by the LSC. The costs of this legal advice and representation will continue to be met as long as the solicitor feels that legal representation will be necessary and beneficial to the person in question.
Legal aid was originally established in the UK by the Legal Aid and Advice Act 1949, and today this service is typically available to around 30% of adults depending upon the situation of each individual. This service is provided by the government to ensure that the rights of the people are properly maintained and to make sure that they can be fairly represented in the event of a dispute. The funding that is granted by legal aid can assist with a variety of different legal issues and is provided in order to ensure that:
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• any person who has been detained at a police station will receive the best possible advice relating to their situation or arrest
• the client receives proper representation in court if necessary
• their legal rights are properly protected
• legal advice is provided in a number of different situations, such as family mediation, divorce, debt, etc
Sometimes people may not be eligible for assistance and the legal aid system in the UK can be quite complicated. As long as you have an income or are guaranteed your pension provision you will usually be able to apply for legal aid, although this eligibility will always be subject to some limitations based upon your total earnings.
Although legal aid can be used to in order to provide expenses cover for a variety of different legal issues, there are also several other areas where it will not be possible to gain help from legal aid, these include:
• employment tribunal cases
• disputes associated with selling or buying property
• damage to property
• libel and slander cases, otherwise known as defamation law
• probate issues such as making Wills or probate assistance
If feel that you may need help and legal advice that you cannot afford, then it is highly recommended that you apply for legal aid as soon as possible, as there tends to be quite a long waiting period before any proceedings can begin.
I am a legal writer who specialises in many areas of law, if you would like more information regarding legal aid and would like to find a solicitor, I suggest you have a look at lawontheweb.co.uk.
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