When can state paid legal aid be accessed?

You must prepare the initial application when turning to the Constitutional Court, yourself. State paid legal aid is not provided for preparing an application. A consultation about the preparation of a (constitutional complaints) application can be obtained at the office of the Ombudsman of the Republic of Latvia. There are also guidelines for preparing a constitutional complaint which have prepared by the Constitutional Court for your use.

However, where you have inadequate funds, you may seek state paid legal aid to prepare a repeated application, if, after the submission of your initial application, the Constitutional Court has made a decision about refusing to initiate a case, indicating the lack of a legal basis or its obvious insufficiency in satisfying the claim as the only reason for this decision. This type of legal aid may only be received if you have been recognized as person with low income or you have difficulties defending your interests in court due to some other special situation.

example If the Constitutional Court has made a decision to decline to initiate a matter as the term for the submission of an application has been missed, you will be unable to receive state paid legal aid for the preparation of a repeated application. 

How is legal aid requested?

You should submit an application (a completed Request for Legal Aid form) to the Legal Aid Administration for legal aid in a Constitutional Court process, in order to access state paid legal aid. The application must be submitted no later than two months prior to the end of the prescribed term for the submission of a constitutional complaint.  

The term for submitting a constitutional complaint is 6 months after the breach of your rights or the most recent negative decision in your situation. The Constitutional Court may consider your initial application in one month’s time, or in complex situations, in two months. Therefore, you should be sending your initial application to the Constitutional Court as soon as possible.  

example If the latest negative decision in your matter was made on 1st July this year, then the term for the submission of a constitutional complaint will expire on 1st January in the following year. You will be able to apply for state paid legal aid until 1st November this year.  

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