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Changes to Legal Aid in England and Wales

chris75
Posted by
Platinum Member

15 Nov 10 #234897 by chris75

Topic started by chris75

The Lord Chancellor, Ken Clark has just announced changes to Legal Aid in England and Wales in an attempt to cut £350m from the £2.1bn current annual bill.

I am posting a link as have not looked into this in depth but i believe that people with assets more than £1,000 will no longer qualify. Also legal aid in divorce cases is to be tightened up.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11741289

Chris

Stubbley
User is blocked

15 Nov 10 #234900 by Stubbley

Reply from Stubbley

Will this also include family courts who have to organise contact cases? Will single mothers, for example, have to pay legal fees in the future?

chris75
Posted by
Platinum Member

15 Nov 10 #234908 by chris75

Reply from chris75

This statement was only made in the Commons a hour or so ago, i suppose all will become apparent in the next few days.

The Lord Chancellor did say however "civil legal aid would only be routinely available in cases where life or liberty is at stake."

Whilst i am far from an expert, it does seem that short of serious cases, the days of legal aid for all comers is about to be curtailed.

Chris

Stubbley
User is blocked

15 Nov 10 #234910 by Stubbley

Reply from Stubbley

God knows how a resident parent, blocking contact to the ex for whatever reason is likely to defend their position without legal aid if not working or able to afford it. Interesting....

chris75
Posted by
Platinum Member

15 Nov 10 #234911 by chris75

Reply from chris75

The good times are over mate, even Labour admitted in response that they would have been doing the same. 2 billion is alot of dough during times of austerity, despite the mantra, "fairness" doesn't come into it

Chris

Stubbley
User is blocked

15 Nov 10 #234913 by Stubbley

Reply from Stubbley

Some could argue that the good times are just about to begin....

As it is, it seems to me that legal aid is dished out to mothers who can claim legal aid for every letter, court case and more, whilst the father trying to see his child has to pay thousands of pounds to contest. Perhaps if some mothers had to pay for their legal obligations like most fathers have to, there would be less fight in the courts?

totallylost
User is blocked

15 Nov 10 #234922 by totallylost

Reply from totallylost

Not for me. I have assets over £1000 so does my ex. Means that we will both owe about 5K and have nothing left to assist with.

We could do a DIY divorce as we wanted to ages ago but the sols bill was too high.

However I would not say it is time to break out the champagne just yet.

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