The short answer
For most people, no. Legal aid for a solicitor to run a financial settlement came out of scope on 1 April 2013 and did not come back. It survives where you get through the domestic abuse gateway and pass the means and merits tests. Mediation legal aid, by contrast, does cover finances, and there is funding to turn a mediated agreement into a binding order.
Key points
- Solicitor funding for an ordinary financial remedy case: not available.
- Available where the domestic abuse gateway applies, plus means and merits.
- Mediation legal aid covers finances with no gateway at all.
- Help with Family Mediation pays for the consent order after mediation.
- Where you are funded for a financial case, the statutory charge is likely to bite, often against the house.
Why the answer is usually no
A financial remedy case is a private dispute between two people about their own money, and that is exactly the category LASPO removed. The argument being unfair, or the sums being large, does not bring it back into scope.
This is the single biggest gap in family legal aid, and it is why so many financial cases now feature at least one person representing themselves.
When it is available
Through the domestic abuse gateway. If you can evidence abuse, private family law legal aid opens up, and that includes financial proceedings. Economic abuse counts, and is directly relevant here: someone who has been controlled financially throughout a relationship is exactly who the gateway exists for.
You must still pass the means test and the merits test. How the three fit together.
The figures
Evidence accepted for the domestic abuse gateway
The list is broader than most people expect, and there is no longer any time limit on how old the evidence can be. The old five year rule was removed on 8 January 2018. If you were told years ago that your evidence was too old, that advice is out of date.
- A non-molestation order, occupation order or other protective injunction, including an undertaking
- A Domestic Abuse Protection Notice or Order
- A police caution, arrest, charge, conviction or bail conditions
- A letter or report from a GP, nurse, midwife or other health professional
- A health professional’s referral to a domestic abuse service
- A letter from a MARAC, an IDVA or an ISVA
- A letter from a domestic abuse support organisation or a refuge, including one refusing admission because it was full
- A letter from a local authority, a housing association or a housing officer
- A finding of fact made by a court
- Evidence of economic abuse
Evidence on its own does not get you legal aid. It opens the door. You must also be financially eligible and your case must pass the merits test. Where someone is at immediate risk, funding can be granted urgently and the finances checked afterwards.
Source: Legal Aid Agency, evidence requirements for private family law matters. Time limit removed: GOV.UK, 8 January 2018. Checked 5 August 2026.
Important information
If you are funded for a financial case, expect the statutory charge. Where you recover or keep money or property because of the case, the Legal Aid Agency can recover what it spent out of what you end up with. In a financial remedy case that usually means the house.
Repayment can sometimes be postponed where you are keeping the property as your home, but interest is charged on the postponed sum, and it accrues for as long as it is outstanding. Ask your solicitor to estimate it before you accept a certificate.
What most people do instead
Mediation. Mediation legal aid covers financial disputes with no gateway, so someone refused solicitor funding on scope may still be funded to mediate the same dispute. If you are not eligible, mediation is still far cheaper than a contested case.
Help with Family Mediation. If you reach agreement in mediation and are financially eligible, this pays a solicitor to turn it into a consent order. You must have attended at least one mediation session, not just the MIAM.
The figures
Help with Family Mediation: what it pays for
This is the funding that turns what you agreed in mediation into a legally binding order. It is separate from the funding for the mediation itself.
| What it covers | Fee paid to the solicitor |
|---|---|
| Mediation advice, meaning legal advice supporting the mediation | £150 |
| Applying to court for a consent order on finances after mediation | £200 |
Those are amounts the Legal Aid Agency pays the solicitor. They are not bills you receive. A legally aided client is not charged for this work and cannot be asked to top it up.
To qualify you must have taken part in at least one mediation session. Attending a MIAM on its own is not enough. Your solicitor needs evidence that you were in mediation within the previous three months, only one fee can be claimed per case, and it is not available if you had family help or legal representation in the previous six months.
Fees: Civil Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, Schedule 1, Part 1, Table 3(e). Scope: Civil Legal Aid (Merits Criteria) Regulations 2013, regulation 17. Checked 5 August 2026.
If you are paying for it yourself
The one piece of legal work most worth paying for is the consent order. An agreement that is not made into a court order is not binding, and leaves your finances open indefinitely, including against a future inheritance or lottery win. Fixed-fee drafting services exist for exactly this.
The court fee to lodge a financial order by consent is far lower than the contested fee, and Help with Fees may reduce it further.
The figures
Family court fees in England and Wales
| Application | Fee |
|---|---|
| Apply for a divorce, dissolution or nullity | £628 |
| Financial order by consent, including a clean break | £62 |
| Contested financial order, the Form A application | £321 |
| Child arrangements, the C100 | £270 |
| General application within proceedings, D11 or C2 | £195 |
| Non-molestation or occupation order, the FL401 | No fee |
| Domestic Abuse Protection Order applied for by a victim | No fee |
There is no court fee to apply for a non-molestation or occupation order. Protection from abuse does not cost money at the court counter. You may pay for legal help to prepare it, and that is what legal aid can cover.
Help with Fees is separate from legal aid and can reduce or remove a court fee. Many people who do not qualify for legal aid do qualify for Help with Fees.
In force from 13 July 2026. Sources: the Ministry of Justice announcement and the fees order, SI 2026/642. Free applications: GOV.UK, injunctions: protection from domestic abuse. Checked 5 August 2026.