Means-testing
Legal aid is granted on the basis of the applicant’s income, expenditures and maintenance liability, that is, his or her available means.
In order to determine your available funds, you must provide receipts and other supporting documents to show your income and expenditure, assets and liabilities.
The available means of the applicant determine whether the applicant is given legal aid for free or against a deductible.
Calculation of available means
Income consists of wages and salary, pension and per diems, as well as child allowances, maintenance support and capital income.
Tax withdrawals are deducted from the income. Deductions are likewise made for reasonable housing costs, day-care charges, maintenance support payments, and the scheduled payments in enforcement or debt adjustment proceedings.
In addition, a deduction of EUR 300 is made for each underage child that belongs to the applicant’s household.
Family size affects the income threshold for eligibility and the level of the deductible. The income of the spouse, domestic partner or registered partner of the applicant is taken into account in the calculation of the available means. However, legal aid is determined solely on basis of the applicant’s economic standing, if the applicant is being suspected of or accused of committing a crime, or if the spouses are adversaries or have separated permanently due to estrangement.
You can make a preliminary calculation of legal aid in our e-service.
Examples
Below are two examples of how an applicant’s income affects the award of benefits and basic deductible.
Income statement
The applicant files a statement of his or her income, expenses, assets and liabilities and attaches the pertinent receipts and other documentation. In most cases, the required information can be supplied with bank account statements, social welfare decisions and tax certificates.
If legal is being applied for electronically, no receipts or other documentation need to be attached to the application. Electronically given information will be spot checked or verified at the Legal Aid Office. For this reason, the receipts and other documentation need to be preserved.
When applying for legal aid, information must be supplied to the Legal Aid Office on the following:
Income
- Regular wages or salary: latest payslip or wage/salary certificate
- Irregular wages: payslip for the latest six months or wage certificate
- Pension: account statement or latest payment notification from the pensions institute
- Unemployment, maternity, illness or accident insurance benefits, student, home care and housing subsidies: account statement or latest payment notification
- Business or professional income: Accountant’s certificate, latest income statement or tax certificate
- Child maintenance support and subsidies: account statement or maintenance settlement
- Interest, dividends, rental income and other capital income: account statement or other sufficient information
- Child benefits: no documentation necessary
- Other taxable income: sufficient information
Expenses
- Taxes: payslip or withdrawal card
- Rent/maintenance charge: receipt, account statement, lease or decision on housing subsidy
- Maintenance costs for a house: for convenience, costs up to EUR 250 per month are in practice accepted without documentation; for costs in excess of this, receipts should be supplied for the preceding six months
- Interest on a home loan: account statement
- Day-care charges, child maintenance payments: receipt or account statement
- Payments in debt adjustment proceedings: documentation on payments according to the schedule (receipt/account statement)
- Payments towards debts in enforcement: payslip, receipt or account statement
Other expenses, such as medicine expenses, commuting expenses or consumer credits, cannot be deducted.
Wealth
The primary residence of the family, an ordinary leisure home and a car are disregarded as assets, provided that their value is reasonable in proportion to the family’s size and need, and no documentation on them is therefore required.
Assets to be taken into account include:
- Funds on deposit: bank book or account statement
- Real property: tax certificate
- Shares in a housing company: tax certificate
- Share in a decedent’s estate or a partnership: tax certificate
- Vehicles: tax certificate
- Investments, such as stock or mutual funds: extract from the book-entry register, certificate from the mutual fund management company.
If asset mentioned above is subject to a debt, the debt is deducted from the current value of the asset.