Divorce could break the bank after legal aid changes next year

Cash-strapped spouses who want to split from their well-off other halves could find themselves seriously out of pocket because of impending changes to the availability of legal aid.

Sir Nicholas Wall, the most senior family judge in England and Wales, is predicting “a substantial increase” in the numbers of people ending up in the family courts without lawyers or any proper advice as a result of proposals included in the legal aid, punishment and sentencing of offenders bill. It is set to come into force in April 2013.

The legislation will cut £350m from the £2.2bn legal aid scheme by removing entire areas of law from public funding, including nearly all family advice. At present, where there is a disparity in wealth between spouses involved in a divorce, state-funded legal advice can provide equality through access to a lawyer. But the legal aid bill will limit public funds for legal advice at the end of a relationship to only those cases which involve domestic abuse.

Read More: The Guardian