Legal aid decision

The Public Legal Aid Office makes a decision on the granting of legal aid.

The Public Legal Aid Office makes a legal aid decision both in court matters and in other matters. The legal aid decision is issued to the applicant in writing; it indicates

• The matter for which legal aid is given
• The court where the matter is pending
• The means of the applicant
• The date as of which legal aid is being given
• What the legal aid covers
• The deductible of the recipient of legal aid and
• The name of the attorney.

If the application for legal aid is rejected, the applicant may request a change in the decision by filing a submission. The Public Legal Aid Office attaches instructions on how to do this to all rejections.

If the economic circumstances of the applicant change, he or she must notify the Legal Aid Office of the same. In this event, the Office or the court may amend the legal aid decision. When the legal aid decision is amended or it is decided that legal aid is to cease, it is at the same time determined whether the recipient of legal aid is to reimburse the State for the legal aid and, if so, the amount of the reimbursement is set.e korvausta ja vahvistetaan korvauksen määrä.

Appeal

An applicant dissatisfied with the legal aid decision may bring the decision of the public legal aid office to a court to resolve.

An applicant dissatisfied with the decision issued by a public legal aid office can file a submission with a court of law. Filing a submission means that the court examines the legal aid application and gives a ruling on it.

The filing of a submission is done in writing and delivered to the public legal aid office that made the decision. A public legal aid office can also independently correct a mistake it has made. If the public legal aid office is of the opinion that there is no reason for the correction, the public legal aid office transfers the submission to a court for examination. The court can also change the decision of the public legal aid office to the detriment of the party who filed the submission.

A submission may be filed for all matters related to a legal aid decision. The requirement is that the legal aid application or request for compensation presented has been rejected, either partially or entirely. Alongside the legal aid decision, the applicant also receives the complaint instructions from the public legal aid office.

The submission filing must indicate

• the decision which the submission filing concerns
• the parts of the decision the party filing the submission is dissatisfied with
• the grounds on which the party filing the submission is dissatisfied with the decision.

The applicant must attach to the submission the legal aid decision and the documents they want to cite.

Forms are available only in Finnish and Swedish.

Complaint period

The submission must be filed within 30 days after the public legal aid office’s decision became known, but before the ruling of the principal claim becomes legally valid.

The decision of a court can be appealed both in connection to the principal claim and separately. The court gives the instructions on how to proceed for those dissatisfied with their decision.