The short answer
Find out which test you failed, because the three have completely different answers. A refusal on merits can be appealed to an independent adjudicator. A refusal on scope cannot be appealed but may point you at a different scheme. A refusal on means is the one most worth rechecking, because allowances and disregards are frequently missed.
Key points
- Ask your provider, in writing, which test you failed and why.
- Merits refusals can be appealed to an independent funding adjudicator, with a deadline.
- Scope refusals cannot be appealed, but mediation legal aid has no scope problem.
- Means refusals are worth rechecking for allowances and the disputed asset disregard.
- Exceptional Case Funding exists where refusing would breach your rights. It is rarely used and hard to get, but it is real.
Refused on scope
Your case is not one of the kinds that legal aid pays for. Since April 2013 that covers most ordinary private family disputes.
There is no appeal against scope. But two things are worth doing. Check whether you have gateway evidence you did not realise counted, because the accepted list is much wider than people expect and has no time limit. And look at mediation legal aid, which has no scope problem at all: any family dispute suitable for mediation is in scope.
Refused on means
Check the arithmetic. This is where genuine errors and genuine misunderstandings cluster.
- Were the allowances applied? A partner, each dependant, housing costs, tax and national insurance all come off before the disposable income test.
- Was your ex’s income wrongly aggregated with yours? It should not be if they are the other side.
- Was the disputed asset disregard applied to the house? Up to £100,000 of your share of the equity can be ignored if the house is what you are arguing about.
- Are you 60 or over? There is a separate and generous capital disregard.
If your circumstances have changed since, you can apply again. Legal aid is assessed on your position now.
The figures
Assets you are arguing about can be ignored, up to £100,000
This is the rule that surprises people most. If the house or the savings are the very thing in dispute, the Legal Aid Agency can leave a large part of them out of the calculation. It is called the subject matter of the dispute disregard.
| Rule | How it works |
|---|---|
| Maximum ignored | £100,000 |
| What it applies to | Capital only. Income can never be treated this way |
| What counts as in dispute | An asset actually being claimed in the proceedings, not simply one you own |
| A jointly owned asset in dispute | You are treated as owning half of it |
Where the family home is in dispute, three things are done in this order: the mortgage is taken off to find the equity, then up to £100,000 of your share of that equity is ignored as the disputed asset, then a further equity disregard of up to £100,000 is applied to whatever is left.
Source: Lord Chancellor’s guidance on determining financial eligibility for controlled work and family mediation, section 7.4. That is the right source for mediation. The Means Assessment Guidance covers certificated work and says so. Checked 5 August 2026.
Refused on merits
This one has a proper appeal route. A merits refusal can be reviewed by an independent funding adjudicator, who is not part of the Legal Aid Agency. Ask your provider to explain the route and the deadline, and ask promptly, because there is one.
Sometimes further evidence changes the prospects assessment. Sometimes a narrower application, asking for less, succeeds where a broad one failed on proportionality.
Exceptional Case Funding
Where refusing legal aid would breach your rights under the European Convention on Human Rights or retained EU law, funding can be granted even though the case is out of scope. That is Exceptional Case Funding.
It is genuinely exceptional and the application is demanding, so most people will need help with it. It is worth asking about where you are facing a serious case, cannot represent yourself, and the other side is represented. A law centre or a legal aid firm can advise whether it is realistic.