If you do not have enough money to hire a private lawyer you can go to a courthouse lawyer also called duty counsels. But court house lawyers overwork so they may not be able to pay enough attention to your case. They might give you five minutes of their time to listen to your case and may not be able to do justice to your case. You can apply for financial assistance to pay for your lawyer if your income is not sufficient to do more than manage the bare necessities of life like food and clothes. You are entitled for financial legal assistance to pay a lawyer if you are facing criminal charges like assault, robbery, theft, causing physical injury to others, fraud, house break, etc.. or in family matters like getting custody of your children, imposing restraint on your partner or removing your partner from your home, to negotiate property issues or in matters related to immigration or refugees like sponsorship appeals, deportation appeals or in other civil matters like damage claims, parole hearings, mental health hearing, workers compensation and so on. For knowing and understanding about these conditions in detail talk to your lawyer.

Legal financial assistance is free for people with little or no income. But if you do earn a little better than that then you may have to pay back. If your legal is urgent and serious and you do not have money at present to pay for it then you may qualify for legal assistance also. However you will have to make this payment back to the law in some time. You have to sign a payment agreement which requires you to either pay the sum in monthly installments or pay it later as a lump sum or have the law put a lien on your property. It you have a serious situation and you need assistance urgently then you should immediately apply for legal aid. Processing of application may take two to three weeks. It might get done earlier if you specify that you have an emergency situation and give details to the legal assistance staff. If you qualify for legal aid you will get a legal aid certificate.