Do you qualify for Legel Aid?
You may be able to get Legel Aid to pay for a lawyer if:
Your legel situation is urgent and serious and you have little or no money left after you pay for the necessities like food and housing.
People with no income of on social assistance usually qualify financially for Legal Aid. You may be able to get Legal Aid even if you have some money in the bank and/or a house.
The Legal Aid office will look at your personal financial circumstances to decide if you qualify. Every situation is different. It all depends on your family responsibilities and your monthly expenses.
What kind of cases are covered?
If you qualify financially, Legal Aid may be able to pay your lawyer for some of these things. This is not a complete list. Please talk to you Legal Aid office about your specific case.
-For Criminal Charges
-any offense which likely result in jail time (e.g. assault, impaired driving causing bodily harm, robbery, welfare fraud, break and enter
-In Family Matters:
-to get custody of your children or to change custody
-to get a restraining order against your partner
-to remove your partner from your home, in cases of physical abuse.
-to establish or to change support payments for you and your child
-to establish access to your children where no arrangements have already been made
-to help with custody and access rights if your partner is likely to move far away so you can't see your children to threatens to take your children away from you
-to help if your partner denies you access to your child
-to change access from supervised to non-supervised
-to stop your partner from selling or destroying your property
-to negotiate property issues, including RRSP's and pensions
-In Immigration and refugee matters
-refugee hearings before the Immigration and refugee board sponsorship appeals
-deportation appeals and submissions to the Minister of Immigration for deportation appeals
-For Other Civil Cases
-Workers' Compensation
-mental health hearings and appeals
-parole hearings and appeals
-damage claims
Do you have to pay anything?
Legal aid is usually free to people with little income or money. People who have a little money but not enough to hire a lawyer may have to pay some money