Legal Aid is a free social legal service that covers civil, criminal, and administrative legal matters at no charge. It is assigned by the local assistance center to provide legal aid to eligible clients who are eligible for legal aid, and this service needs to go through an application and approval process. It sounds complicated, but in fact, because the general principle of the aid object is the disadvantaged and low-income groups, the application process is actually very convenient, especially the local government service software has provided ** application, according to the instructions to operate basically zero obstacles.
Where citizens do not have a person to retain due to financial hardship in respect of the following matters, they may submit an application for legal aid to the voluntary organ or the legal aid institution for the place where the obligor is domiciled or where the cause of action occurred:
1. Requesting compensation from the state;
2. Requesting social insurance benefits or minimum subsistence security benefits;
3. Requests for the payment of pensions and relief funds;
4. Requests for alimony, child support, or alimony;
5. Request for payment of labor remuneration;
6. Asserting civil rights and interests arising from acts of righteousness and courage.
7. Claim compensation for work-related injuries, medical accidents, and traffic accidents;
8. Requests for protection of legitimate rights and interests due to domestic violence, abuse, or abandonment;
9. Migrant workers, the elderly, the disabled, and minors request personal injury.
10. Marriage and family disputes;
11. Disputes over compensation for product quality damages
12. Retrial hearings for cases that meet the scope of legal aid acceptance.
13. Environmental protection infringement disputes, agricultural material quality disputes, and land contracting and operation disputes.
14. Women request schooling, employment, labor protection, and divorce to protect their legitimate rights and interests;
15. Requests for protection of children's lawful rights and interests.
1.Defendants, criminal suspects, victims, or private prosecutors in criminal cases who have not retained a defender or litigant due to financial hardship or other reasons may apply to a legal aid institution for legal aid.
2.For minors, blind, deaf, or mute, mentally ill persons who have not completely lost the ability to recognize or control their own behavior, or criminal suspects or defendants who might be sentenced to life imprisonment or death, if a defender has not been retained, the public security organs, people's procuratorates, and people's courts shall notify the legal aid institution to appoint a lawyer to provide a defense for them in accordance with law, and the legal aid institution shall provide legal aid in accordance with law.
3.Where people's courts hearing compulsory treatment cases do not retain a litigant for the subject of the application or defendant, they shall notify the legal aid institution to appoint a lawyer to serve as the litigant of the subject of the application or defendant, and provide them with legal assistance.
4.The public security organs, people's procuratorates, and people's courts may notify the legal aid institutions to appoint a lawyer to provide a defense for the following criminal suspects or defendants:
1) In cases of joint crimes, the other criminal suspects or defendants have already retained a defender;
2) The criminal suspect or defendant's conduct may not constitute a crime;
3) Cases with significant social impact;
4) Cases in which the People's Procuratorate protests;
5) The criminal suspect or defendant is over 75 years old;
6) There is evidence showing that the criminal suspect or defendant has a first- or second-degree intellectual disability;
7) The criminal suspect or defendant is an ethnic minority and does not know Chinese;
8) The criminal suspect or defendant has foreign nationality;
9) Other circumstances where it is necessary to notify the legal aid institution to provide a defense.
Where criminal suspects or defendants with any of the circumstances described above or their close relatives apply for legal aid, the legal aid institutions are no longer to review their financial situation.
1. ID card or other valid identity certificate, the applicant shall also submit the certificate of authority (power of attorney) and the identity certificate of the person;
2. Proof of financial hardship (or proof of economic status: i.e., total family population and total income and related assets);
3. Materials related to the legal aid applied for.
4. Migrant workers who apply for legal aid for labor remuneration, work-related injury compensation, and personal injury compensation only need to submit proof of identity and proof of working locally, and do not need to submit proof of financial hardship.
The criterion for applying for legal aid is that the per capita income of the family members living with the applicant is less than twice the minimum subsistence standard for urban residents in the local area.
If one of the following conditions is met, the financial hardship situation will not be reviewed:
1. Holders of the "Minimum Livelihood Security Certificate for Urban Residents", "Minimum Livelihood Security Certificate for Rural Residents" (or "Rural Extremely Poor Household Relief Certificate") and "Five Guarantees Support Certificate" issued by the civil affairs department;
2. It can be proved that it is supported by ** in social welfare institutions such as nursing homes and orphanages;
3. Migrant workers request payment of labor remuneration, work-related injury compensation and personal injury compensation;
4. Asserting civil rights and interests arising from acts of righteousness and courage;
5. Those who are receiving judicial assistance from the court.
When applying for assistance, it is based on the principle of the place where the case is accepted, that is to say, the court where the case is accepted, and you apply for it in that place when you apply for assistance, and now there are legal aid centers in all provinces, cities, and districts (counties), and there are also law firms that are the contact points for legal aid, and you can assist in submitting applications offline. You can also call the local 12348 to contact and inquire first, and then apply on the spot. In addition, many cities have launched a mobile version of government affairs software, on these software directly search for "legal aid" can directly find the application entrance, online application will be more convenient, after the application is submitted, you will receive a text message notification of acceptance, 1-3 working days will be SMS again to notify the acceptance result, after the review is passed, the assigned legal aid lawyer will directly contact you, sign the procedures in time and intervene in the handling of the case, the legal aid lawyer can help you sort out the evidence, submit the application, participate in the trial, Communicating the case, etc., you don't need to go back and forth to the court, just keep in touch with the lawyer if you have something, save worry and effort.