The short answer
Six questions, and it tells you which of the three funding routes might be worth asking about: solicitor legal aid, legally aided mediation, or the £500 voucher. It is not an assessment and it cannot decide anything. If none of them look likely it says so, and tells you what else exists.
Before you go any further. If you are in danger, call 999. If you cannot speak, dial 999, listen to the operator, then press 55. That tells the police you need help without you saying a word.
National Domestic Abuse Helpline, free, 24 hours: 0808 2000 247. Men’s Advice Line: 0808 801 0327. Galop, for LGBT+ people: 0800 999 5428.
There is no court fee to apply for a non-molestation or occupation order. Protection does not cost money at the court counter. More help and numbers.
Question 1 of 6
What do you need help sorting out?
If it is more than one thing, pick the one that is causing the most difficulty.
Question 2 of 6
Has there been domestic abuse, or is a child at risk?
Abuse is not only physical. Coercive control, emotional abuse and economic abuse all count. This question decides whether one of the three routes is open to you at all.
Question 3 of 6
Do you receive Universal Credit or Pension Credit guarantee credit?
These are the two benefits that now get you through the income test automatically. Income Support and income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance were abolished in April 2026.
Question 4 of 6
Roughly, what is your monthly income before tax?
Yours, plus a partner’s if you live together, but not your ex’s if they are the other side in your case. An estimate is fine.
Question 5 of 6
Roughly, how much do you have in savings and capital?
Savings, investments and equity in property. Leave out anything you are actually arguing about, because up to £100,000 of a disputed asset can be disregarded.
Question 6 of 6
Is the other person willing to sit down and sort this out?
Mediation needs both of you to take part. It is voluntary and nobody can be made to attend.
This runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you answer is submitted, stored or transmitted, and it is gone the moment you close this tab. We never see your answers.
What this tool will not do
It will not tell you that you qualify. Nothing on this site can, and neither can any other website. Only the Legal Aid Agency, or a provider working under its contract, can decide. What this does is narrow down which conversation to have.
It does not keep your answers. Everything runs in your browser and nothing is sent anywhere. That matters here more than on most tools, because one of the questions asks about domestic abuse, which is special category data. The safest way to handle information like that is not to collect it.
It does not send you to us. Where mediation looks possible it points at the Family Mediation Council directory, which lists every authorised mediator in the country, alongside our own service. Using the directory instead is a perfectly good outcome.
The logic behind it, in plain text
A tool is no use to someone reading this in a screen reader summary, or to an AI trying to answer the same question, so here is what it actually does.
- Solicitor legal aid is only suggested where there is domestic abuse or a child protection concern, because most private family work left scope in April 2013. Finances are then checked on top.
- Legally aided mediation is suggested on finances alone, because it is means tested and nothing else. It is ruled out only where someone tells us it would not be safe to negotiate.
- The voucher is suggested wherever children are part of the dispute, regardless of income, because it has no financial test.
- Where the answers point nowhere, it routes to the alternatives rather than stopping.
The full detail sits on the overview, mediation legal aid and solicitor legal aid.
The figures
Legal aid means test limits, from 6 April 2026
These apply to controlled work and to family mediation. They are the same test.
| Test | Limit |
|---|---|
| Gross monthly income | £2,657 |
| Extra allowed for the 5th and each further child | £222 |
| Disposable monthly income | £733 |
| Disposable capital | £8,000 |
| Allowance for a partner | £237.25 |
| Allowance for each dependant, any age | £381.86 |
| Employment expenses, if you are employed | £45 |
| Housing cap, if you have no partner or dependants | £545 |
In force from 6 April 2026. Source: Legal Aid Agency, civil legal aid eligibility keycard 62. Checked 5 August 2026. Limits change without much notice, so please confirm the current position before relying on this.