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Often a mother who calls the relationship off and ends up with
the children can get legal aid with an income more than the father
who can't get legal aid. Legal Aid is not a good system but it is
often all that is available to some fathers.
Of course the biggest abuse of the government funding a parent
to push the other parent out of the lives of their children is that
there is absoulty no incentive for the parent getting the free ride
to want to seriously negotiate or settle a matter they know is costing
the other parent a fortune. Lawyers historically are not supposed
to mention in court that a person is on legal aid. It is therefore
very frustrating, and the hight of system/hypocracy, to hear a well
meaning judge advise the two conflicting parents "You look
like intellegent people and you should both try and save yourselves
a lot of money and settle this case." When we hear that comment
where the other parent is on legal aid we now advise the judge of
that fact.
The financial guidlines change from time to time so always check.
For family matters a single parent with one child must have income
( from all sources) per month of no more than about $1,412; with
two children $1,647; three children $1,821. But be sure to check
first.
WHAT CAN YOU DO IF THE OTHER PARENT IS ON LEGAL AID BUT YOU SUSPECT
SHOULDN'T BE?
Some people lie about their income to make it low enough to qualify
for legal aid. Sometimes this person's legal aid lawyer knows the
client should not be on legal aid but will say nothing. Whenever
we have good grounds of suspicion a parent is on legal aid trying
to remove our client from the lives of the children and their income
is higher than the legal aid guidelines, we write a letter of complaint
to the Legal Services Society. You can do the same thing. You will
never get an answer, but only a promise they will investigate a
confidential matter. Where we think a lawyer may know he/she is
improperly getting paid by legal aid, we request an inquiry onto
that also. Because the Legal Services Society remains completly
unaccountable to anyone for what they do with your letter, we doubt
much actually gets done. But it is worth the try.
Phone your nearest Legal Services Society office and ask for a
Record of Complaint Form. Fill it out and fax it to Complaints Coordinator,
Audit & Investigations Department at fax number 604-682-0979.
Mail a copy to your MLA.
Our office does not take legal aid clients.
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