The short answer
The most damaging myth is that legal aid was abolished for family cases in 2013. It was not. It was narrowed, and the part that survived intact is family mediation, which is the part most separating couples actually need. Below are eight beliefs that cost people money, each with what is actually true.
Key points
- Legal aid was narrowed in 2013, not abolished.
- Mediation legal aid does not require abuse. It is means tested only.
- Being on a benefit does not get you past the capital test.
- Mediation legal aid is never paid back. Solicitor legal aid sometimes is.
- The £500 voucher has no financial test at all.
1. “Legal aid was abolished in 2013”
Not true. Most private family work came out of scope on 1 April 2013, but care proceedings, the domestic abuse and child protection gateways and family mediation all remained. Mediation was deliberately kept in.
This is the belief that does the most damage, because people who would qualify never ask.
2. “You need to have suffered abuse to get legal aid for mediation”
Not true. Legal aid for family mediation is means tested and nothing else. Whether there has been abuse is irrelevant to that test. If you are financially eligible you can have it.
The confusion comes from solicitor legal aid, which is a different scheme with a gateway. Two schemes, two tests. The mediation one.
3. “I’m on Universal Credit so I’ll definitely get it”
Half true. Universal Credit passports you through the income test. It does nothing for the capital test, which is assessed in every single case. Savings or equity above the limit will still refuse you.
4. “I own a house so I can’t possibly qualify”
Often wrong. The mortgage comes off first. Then, if the house is what you are arguing about, up to £100,000 of your share of the equity is disregarded. Then a further equity disregard applies to what is left.
People rule themselves out over a house that is the very thing the rule was written for. How capital is actually assessed.
5. “Legal aid is a loan, they take it back at the end”
Depends which scheme. For solicitor legal aid, often yes: the statutory charge lets the Agency recover what it spent out of what you keep. For mediation legal aid, never. Mediation is excluded from the charge outright, and it is not clawed back even if you later need a solicitor.
This one is free
Mediation legal aid is not a loan
The statutory charge is how the government gets its money back out of what you keep at the end of a funded case. It is the reason legal aid for a solicitor can feel like a loan rather than a gift.
It does not apply to family mediation. Mediation is excluded outright. It is also, unlike legal help, not one of the services that gets pulled back into the charge if you later need a solicitor. So the cost of your mediation is never recovered from you, whatever happens next.
One qualification. If you use Help with Family Mediation and then go on to full representation on the same dispute, the cost of that legal advice can be added to the charge. The mediation itself still cannot.
Source: Civil Legal Aid (Statutory Charge) Regulations 2013, regulation 4. Family mediation is excluded by regulation 4(1)(d) and is not listed in the regulation 4(2) claw-back. Checked 5 August 2026.
6. “The £500 voucher is for people on low incomes”
Not true. The voucher has no financial test whatever. Your income, savings and property are all irrelevant to it. What matters is the type of dispute: it covers child arrangements, and not finance-only cases.
People on good incomes routinely assume it is not for them. It is.
7. “My ex earns well, so we’ll be assessed together”
Not true where they are the other side in your case. A partner’s income is aggregated with yours, but not when that partner is your opponent. Couples still living under one roof while divorcing add the two incomes together and wrongly conclude they are miles over.
8. “My evidence of abuse is too old to count”
Not true, and this one matters. There has been no time limit on domestic abuse evidence since 8 January 2018. The old five year rule is gone. If you were told years ago that what happened to you was too long ago, that advice is out of date and worth revisiting.
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.