Divorcing couples urged by Shropshire solicitor to sort out children before funding aid runs out
Following royal assent of Legal Aid reforms, a local solicitor is urging separating couples to sort out problems relating to their children as soon as possible.
Alison Monaghan, a Solicitor in the Oswestry office of leading Shropshire and North Wales law firm GHP Legal, warned today that the introduction of new contracts for the delivery of civil legal aid, together with the introduction of revised eligibility criteria to access such aid, will affect every aspect of family law including matters involving children.
“When the new Legal Aid Bill is implemented it will affect access to public funding in all private family law proceedings,” said Miss Monahan. “That includes Contact to Children (access) cases, Residence (custody) cases and all cases regarding children where there is no involvement with either social services or domestic violence.
“Anyone wishing to apply to the Court for an Order concerning a child will not be able to do so after 1st April 2013 with the assistance of public funding, so unless they can afford to pay their own legal fees they will not be able to get assistance from a family lawyer.
“The new tendering system will mean less law firms gaining contracts for supply of legal aid services and the pressure on legal aid expenditure will be enormous. Whilst the
Ministry of Justice has said the reforms will target resources at people who need legal support the most, the reality is that there is unlikely to be sufficient funds to meet
the demand and people may end up having to seek advice from solicitors outside their own local area – which in turn will add to their costs in terms of travel etc.”
“I would therefore strongly urge any couples seeking to become divorced to deal with contact and residency matters relating to children as soon as possible.”
