How to Find A Family Court Lawyer If You Are A Low Income Person?
Are you stressed because you are going through tough times as you might be having problems with your family, or it could be a criminal or immigration law problem, but you can not afford to hire a lawyer to get things sorted? No worries! Many people in Canada don’t earn a good amount of money which would enable them to hire a family court lawyer. You’re not alone. In fact, almost five million people in Canada live in poverty. That means one out of every seven individuals.
The good news is you can still talk to the lawyer regarding the general advice when you can not afford to pay for them. Few lawyers provide a service known as unbundled services, which means they won’t help you completely in your case but will solve some part of it. Family court lawyers for a low-income individual are not too difficult to get. In this article, you’ll know exactly what you can do to find a family court lawyer.
Let’s find out more about it!
Contact the Legal Aid Ontario
Those individuals who have low income can contact Legal Aid Ontario. They will help you out with their services in legal matters. There are certain criteria that you’ll need to pass before they help you. There is a financial eligibility test that you need to pass to be eligible to take legal help from them. They would also ask you the information about your property, income, or savings.
Legal Aid Certificate
If you want to have a lawyer paid by the Legal Aid Ontario (LAO), you should have the Legal aid certificate. They look for your financial status through the financial eligibility test to ensure that you are not earning enough money to afford a lawyer. Once you get the legal aid certificate, the entire cost of the lawyer would be covered in it, and you don’t have to pay anything to the lawyer.
Sometimes, LAO decides to make an agreement with you called a “contribution agreement,” and this agreement is made when you have to pay back to the LAO for legal services. They do that after analyzing your income.
Moreover, the legal aid certificate doesn’t cover all kinds of legal issues. You’d only get the legal certificate when the LAO covers the legal issue. For instance, somebody has caused damage to your property, but you can not sue him as the LAO does not cover it. Some of the legal issues for which you are eligible to get the certificate includes
- Family law
- Immigration law
- Refugee law
- Criminal law
Let’s discuss another exception. When we talk about Family law, most people would think that the divorce would be covered in it as hiring a divorce lawyer in Mississauga will be expensive. But unfortunately, usually, you won’t be eligible to get the Legal air certificate for the divorce, except in very few rare cases. For example, you can get the certificate when facing immigration issues and the divorce or have difficulty living due to being financially unstable, and you require a divorce for that.
Call the Community Legal Aid Clinic
This is a second option for people who have low incomes. They can get help from some of the community legal clinics (CLCs), which are spread all over Ontario. They would be able to guide you on family law issues.
If you’d like to get assistance from them, you should generally reside in the area where there is a clinic. Secondly, your income shouldn’t be much than a certain level. You can search the CLC with your postal code.
CLC can provide a range of services for your family law issues. It includes the following:
- Free of charge consultation
- They will provide all the information to prepare for the case.
- A person who is either a lawyer, community legal worker, or law student would represent you in court.
- They also give referrals to other private practitioners.
If you can’t get the desired help from the clinic, you could ask them for other practitioners, and they would be happy to refer you to a private lawyer to help you out.
Apart from the community legal aid clinics, some clinics are managed by the law students of different universities like the University of Ottawa, University of Toronto, York University. These are called student legal aid clinics which would also assist you if your income is low. Some of the things you could benefit from talking to them include:
- Parenting time
- Child support
- Decision making responsibility
Call JusticeNet
This is a non-profit organization that caters to specific kinds of individuals. Firstly, those people who don’t earn a lot of money and are not eligible for legal aid. JusticeNet provides legal services to them.
The Takeaway
Now you must be familiar with how you can still get the assistance of a lawyer. You can contact the legal aid in Ontario. They will cater to your legal problems if it falls under the legal issues they cover. They will perform a financial eligibility test to analyze your income, properties you own, and if you have any savings.
Secondly, you have the option of taking support from the community legal aid clinic, which is present near your house in Ontario. Again, they would also see if your income is low or not because they cater to individuals who don’t have enough money to hire a family court lawyer for their legal matters. Moreover, you can also consult the student legal aid clinics managed by the law student of different universities in Ontario. They would also be able to guide you very well.
You can also contact non-profit organizations that help people who don’t earn a lot of money. If you have any more questions regarding a family court lawyer for low-income people, do not hesitate to contact us. Our expert consultants will be glad to help you out.
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