Legal Information/ Legal Briefs
Legal Briefs
Until 2010, these legal briefs provide examples of judgments pertaining to everyday situations. Beginning in 2012, they deal with various topics of general interest, such as rental issues, family law, human rights, civil liability, insurance, dealings between spouses and social aid. They are intended to inform and to prevent undesirable situations.
Legal Briefs 2015
November
Can I be financially eligible for legal aid if my spouse is not?
The Act respecting legal aid and the provision of certain other legal services will consider you and another person to be spouses in the following three cases:
- You and the other person are married and you are living together;
- You and the other person are living together and you have a child together;
- You and the other person are living together and, at one time, you lived together for a period of at least a year.
In these cases, legal aid will have to consider your income, property and liquid assets as well as those of your spouse in order to determine your financial eligibility for legal aid.
Section 6.1 of the Regulation respecting legal aid provides an exception when the legal aid application is made by or for the benefit of a child. In such a case, your current spouse’s financial situation will not be taken into account if your spouse is not the child’s parent. Moreover, your child must be living with you. For example, if you have custody of your child from a former union and you want to modify a judgment that awarded you support for your child, legal aid will take into account your child’s income and liquid assets as well as your income, property and liquid assets, but not those of your current spouse.
Section 7 of the Regulation respecting legal aid provides another exception in situations where you and your spouse, with whom you are still living together, have opposing interests in a case. In such a situation, only your income, property and liquid assets will be taken into consideration for purposes of determining your financial eligibility for legal aid.
As you can see, financial eligibility for legal aid depends on many factors and each person’s specific situation has to be considered. If you have any doubts about your eligibility, don’t hesitate to make an appointment at the legal aid office nearest your home. There, you will be met by a lawyer who will be happy to check whether you are eligible for legal aid, so that you don’t have to deprive yourself of the exercise of your rights because you don’t have the means to do so!
Legal brief *
November
2015
Number
09
Text prepared by Me Marie Fillion,Directrice générale du Centre communautaire juridique du Saguenay-Lac St-Jean
* The information set out in this document is not a legal interpretation.
The masculine is used to designate persons solely in order to simplify the text.
June/July
Breathalyzers and impaired faculties
Offences related to driving under the influence of alcohol are probably the ones most likely to affect the « ordinary » person, that is, someone without a criminal past. Unfortunately, these offences can have serious consequences which the public does not always fully grasp.
If a police offi
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May
What exactly is the Social Security Tribunal?
On April 1, 2013, a new tribunal was created in Canada—the Social Security Tribunal—which falls under federal jurisdiction. It replaced the following four administrative tribunals: the Board of Referees, the employment insurance umpires, the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security review tribunals,
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February
Free or low-cost legal aid
You may be granted free legal aid if your income, property and liquid assets do not exceed the eligibility scale provided for in the Act respecting legal aid and the provision of certain other legal services and the Regulation respecting legal aid.
Even if you are above the elig
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January
Is shared custody in the best interests of your child?
For the majority of parents who are in the process of a separation or divorce, custody of their children is often their primary concern. How can their children’s time be managed best so that they can spend as much of this precious commodity with their children?
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