Legal Aid Cuts
As from April 2013, Legal Aid known as Public Funding will no longer be available to those who seek divorce or are involved in a children/contact dispute.
Mark Mosley as the head of family law at Vincents comments that:
The Government is seeking to cut 350 million pounds from the Legal Aid budget and as a consequence of this, has decided to stop funding many types of family cases such as divorce and children/contact disputes unless there is a provable element of domestic violence involved. The one concession that the Government has given is that they have extended the definition of domestic violence.
Mark further adds that for many it will mean handling their own divorce and/or children dispute possibly against another party who is represented because they can afford to pay for legal advice. This will be unfair and will impact upon the Court’s ability to deal with cases quickly. The Court is going to become clogged with unrepresented litigants and this will slow cases down and ironically be more expensive for the Court service.
Mark further comments that for children caught up in the cross fire of an intractable divorce, this is a disaster. They not the lawyers will be the ones that will suffer.
Access to justice is going to get more expensive for all and will not be there for many because of that expense. If you would like to contact Mark our Family Law partner you can reach him on 0800 310 2000 or email markmosley@vslaw.co.uk