Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012

Children who are parties to family proceedings E+W

15 (1) Civil legal services provided to a child in relation to family proceedings— E+W

(a) where the child is, or proposes to be, the applicant or respondent;

(b) where the child is made a party to the proceedings by a court under rule 16.2 of the Family Procedure Rules;

(c) where the child is a party to the proceedings and is conducting, or proposes to conduct, the proceedings without a children's guardian or litigation friend in accordance with rule 16.6 of the Family Procedure Rules.

Exclusions

(2) Sub-paragraph (1) is subject to the exclusions in Parts 2 and 3 of this Schedule.

Definitions

(3) For the purposes of this paragraph—

(a) proceedings are family proceedings if they relate to a matter arising out of a family relationship,

(b) there is a family relationship between two individuals if they are associated with each other, and

(c) “associated” has the same meaning as in Part 4 of the Family Law Act 1996 (see section 62 of that Act).

(4) For the purposes of this paragraph—

(a) matters arising out of a family relationship include matters arising under a family enactment, and

(b) (subject to paragraph (a)) the Lord Chancellor may by regulations make provision about when matters arise out of a family relationship.

(5) In this paragraph—

• “child” means a person under the age of 18;

• “family enactment” has the meaning given in paragraph 12.