https://www.slab.org.uk/guidance/special-circumstances/
https://www.slab.org.uk/guidance/special-circumstances/
Under regulation 12 of the Children’s Legal Assistance (Scotland) Regulations 2013 we must consider capital disposed of before an application was made.
We must decide if the client has deprived themselves of resources or if they have converted resources that would have otherwise been taken into account in assessing their financial eligibility.
If we consider your client has disposed of funds in this way we are allowed to assess their capital as if they had not disposed of or converted the resources.
We will take into account whether it was necessary to spend the funds in question and the timing of the disposal in relation to the knowledge that litigation was likely.
Rule 16 of the 2013 Regulations gives us discretion to disregard such capital as we think appropriate in the circumstances of the case. You need to tell us about any or all capital you think we should disregard so we can decide if we should exercise this discretion.
If your client is applying for children’s legal aid in connection with appellate proceedings may previously been in receipt of children’s legal aid for the proceedings in the lower court. In these circumstances, the maximum contribution already paid for the proceedings in the lower court is all we will expect your client to pay. We will not ask for a fresh contribution in the appellate proceedings.