Table of contents
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Table of contents
- 1 – Introduction
- 2 – Types of matters that may be assisted
- 3 – Criminal law guidelines
- 4 – Commonwealth family law and child support guidelines
- 5 – Commonwealth civil law guidelines
- 6 – State family guidelines
- 7 – State civil law guidelines
- 8 – Standard grants assessment process
- 9 – Simplified grants assessment process
- 10 – Referral and practitioner panels
- 11 – Means test
- 12 – Commonwealth merits test
- 13 – State reasonableness test and interests of justice test
- 14 – Special circumstances
- 15 – Applying for a grant of legal assistance
- 16 – Decision to grant or refuse assistance
- 17 – Reconsideration and review of decisions
- 18 – Standard terms and conditions
- 19 – Contributions and overdue payments
- 20 – Abandoning legal assistance
- 21 – Finalising grants of legal assistance
- 22 – Allocation of work to lawyers and law firms
- 23 – Payments to lawyers and service providers
- 24 – Compliance reviews
- 25 – Privacy protection
- 26 – Complaints and feedback
- Topic index
- Invoices, worksheets and forms
- Contact us
20 – Abandoning legal assistance
Sometimes, an assisted person may decide to continue their case without assistance. This is known as ‘abandoning’ their grant of assistance.
Abandoning a grant of legal assistance when a matter is still going ahead
If an assisted person decides to abandon their grant of legal assistance while the matter is still going ahead, then the person’s assigned lawyer must:
- report to VLA on the progress of the matter
- give VLA an account for the work the assigned lawyer has already done.
See also: Finalising grants of legal assistance.
If a change of assigned lawyer is also requested
If the person abandoning a grant of legal assistance is also seeking a change of lawyer, then VLA may not consent to the transfer of the person's file to the new lawyer until the person has paid or secured any legal costs incurred by them up to that time in a way that is acceptable to VLA.
See also: Allocation of work to lawyers and law firms.
Grants cannot be abandoned after a matter has finished
An assisted person cannot abandon a grant of legal assistance at the end of their case:
- in order to get the other side to pay a greater amount of legal costs
- for any other reason.