If you have special circumstances, you can have your fines reduced or cancelled. The judge or clerk will decide what to do with your unpaid fines, taking into account your particular situation. If a person applies for legal assistance for a legal matter which does not fall under specific Commonwealth and State assistance guidelines, Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) may be able to provide legal assistance if the person and/or legal matter is involved in the following cases: If you are applying for legal aid for a family property scheme or domestic violence case, You may have an interest of up to $200,000 in eligible assets that are in dispute with the other party. If you are in financial difficulty, you can also provide evidence of your financial situation, such as bank statements, up-to-date invoices, or letters from your creditors or financial advisor (if applicable). It is important to note that financial hardship alone is not enough to be considered exceptional circumstances, but it is a factor that can be taken into account. Read how you are entitled to a review of your fine if you can prove that you had extraordinary circumstances when you broke the law and received a fine. If you are applying for extraordinary circumstances in the case of Victoria fines, it is important to provide documents (or other evidence) to support your claim. You must explain why you should not pay the fine because of your extraordinary circumstances. This section addresses the two special circumstances and describes the additional information that the person or their lawyer must attach to the application form they send to VLA. If Fines Victoria decides that you have exceptional circumstances, enforcement of the fine will be lifted and the case will be referred to the authority that imposed a fine. The Agency may decide to lift the fine and/or issue an official warning instead. However, the Agency may also withdraw the fine and decide to sue you for the fine. If you rely on Centrelink payments for your income, you are usually eligible for legal aid as long as your assets are within the established limits.
You should include family tax benefits (Part A and B) as well as child support and child support as income. « Special circumstances » are different from extraordinary circumstances. Special circumstances mean that you could not control the behaviour or understand the illegal behaviour because, at the time of the fine: The means test checks your income and assets to determine if you are financially eligible for legal aid. Table 1 shows the gross weekly income you can earn while still eligible. You can use this table to check if you qualify and if you need to contribute to your legal fees. Table 2 shows how much you would have to pay for your legal fees based on the value of your assets. We will not approve your application if the amount you would have to pay for your legal fees is greater than the value of the assistance. Assets include real estate (houses, land), cash, stocks, bonds or other investments, as well as the assets of anyone who helps you financially, unless you need legal help because you are in dispute with that person. We do not include: Victoria Fines decides whether you should apply the fine based on your situation.
To make this process easier for you, we have provided you with sample letters. Download How to request a review of your fine if you have extraordinary circumstances. If your assessed net worth is more than $930 (or $1880 if you receive financial assistance from someone else or if you are single with dependent children), you may not be eligible for assistance or may have to pay a portion of your legal fees. The demand for our services is high, which is why we use strict criteria when awarding grants for legal representation. That way, we can ensure that we are using our funds to help those who can least afford to pay for a lawyer. There may also be special issues in specific Commonwealth and state policies where VLA can only provide legal advice if the person seeking assistance meets the relevant special circumstances. Learn more about how to go to court about your particular situation. If there are special circumstances, you should ask Victoria for a review of the application of the law because of special circumstances. Even if you did not have special circumstances at the time of the fine, you can still ask for a review of your fines if you can prove that you have serious long-term circumstances and are unable to pay your fines or deal with them in any other way, such as by performing activities or treatments.
We have developed guidelines to identify candidates who would not normally meet our resource test, but who deserve special attention because they have several drawbacks. If you are a victim of family violence, live in a remote area, have a mental, psychiatric, physical or other disadvantage, you may be eligible for an allowance under our Special Circumstances Policy. For more information to help you with this process, see How to apply for special circumstances. In order to have the enforcement of your fine cancelled, you must prove to Fines Victoria that you had exceptional circumstances at the time of the fine. We use three sets of criteria to determine whether legal aid is granted. These are the Legal Aid Queensland Resource Test, funding guidelines and, in most cases, a legal merit test. If you think you have not broken the law, for example, you did not drive at the time of the fine, get legal assistance. If you pass the check, Victoria will cancel the application of the law and return your fines to the authority that fined you. The Agency may then withdraw your fines, issue a warning or initiate proceedings to enforce your unpaid fines in the Magistrates` Court. If the court finds that you had special circumstances, it will usually cancel the fines or significantly reduce the penalties. Special circumstances exist if you: The law states that you may not have to pay your fines in full if you experienced a special circumstance when you received the fine and had difficulty avoiding breaking the law.
