Income Criterion for Citizens Seeking Pro-bono Services from Legal Aid Bureau

1 Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng asked the Minister for Law (a) what is the income criterion for citizens seeking pro-bono legal services from the Legal Aid Bureau; (b) what are the avenues by which average-income families can access legal services at an affordable cost especially if they do not qualify for the pro-bono legal services; and (c) whether the Ministry can communicate these avenues of access to all citizens.

The Senior Minister of State for Law (Mr Edwin Tong Chun Fai) (for the Minister for Law): Mr Deputy Speaker, an applicant must be a Citizen or a Permanent Resident of Singapore to qualify for civil legal aid. The qualifying criteria for legal aid are two-fold. First, the applicant must satisfy the means test. Second, the applicant must show that he or she has a good reason to bring or defend the case under the law, otherwise known as the merits test.

To pass the current means test, an applicant’s disposable income cannot be more than S$10,000 per year and his disposal capital cannot be more than S$10,000.

Last November, Parliament passed the Legal Aid and Advice (Amendment) Bill. MinLaw intends to adopt the Per Capita Household Income (PCHI) and the Annual Value of the applicant’s residence, savings and investments, as the new criteria to replace disposable income and disposable capital. The changes will simplify the means test, align the criteria with those under other social support schemes and shorten the application process time. There will be no material impact on the number of households eligible for legal aid provided by the Legal Aid Bureau. The Bill also gives us greater flexibility to help applicants with extenuating circumstances. So, there is an element of discretion that is built into the amendment Bill, as the Member might recall from the debate. We target to announce the detailed means criteria and effect the changes by the end of this year.

Applicants who fail the means test may seek help from the Law Society Pro Bono Services, the Community Justice Centre and more than 50 other legal clinics run by various community, religious and voluntary welfare organisations.

The Ministry provides applicants who do not qualify for the means test, as well as members of the public who enquire about avenues of legal assistance, with a list of legal clinics and online resources which the applicants may use to find a suitable lawyer.

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng (Jalan Besar): I thank the Senior Minister of State for his response and for being always very helpful when we write in for such support. My question is this: the current access to legal aid seems to be very limited for many of our residents, especially for those who are not wealthy. Those who are very low-income have better access. Those who are wealthy probably do not need so much of this aid. But for those who are in the average income band, this is not so.

I want to know if MinLaw would be able to provide even more details on how it will assist families with such needs, especially in areas like the Letter of Administration that is required when somebody passes away. Things like Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) and so forth. Is there a way, as technology advances, that we can offer more DIY help so that "mortals" like us can actually help them sign up for some of the required legal documentation?

Mr Edwin Tong Chun Fai: I thank the Member for the comments. On the first point, certainly, with the advent of the amendments and the criteria that we will use, we expect that the process will be easier to use, simplified. And we believe also that with the discretion portion, that there will be a more judicious use of that discretion to apply to needy cases. So, there is a bit more latitude.

We expect, on our estimate, that with the new amendments, looking at the PCHI and the other criterion, that approximately 25% of all households in Singapore would qualify under that criteria. So, there is a fair breadth of coverage with the new means test in place.

On the Member's second point, I agree. And I think we previously said in this House that matters such as estate administration, especially for smaller estates where the value is not significant, sometimes, the cost of having to apply for the Letter of Administration outweighs the benefits. So, as I have said previously in this House, we are looking at ways of simplifying estate management and administration, including making the process a lot more straightforward. I am not sure if it can be DIY, but it will be a lot more straightforward so that it will be easier to manage, easier to navigate, and one does not have to incur significant resources to spend on getting the Letter of Administration.

We are also looking at how to help families upstream in terms of the estate planning, upfront, before we even get to the stage. I have also previously announced that we have a Moments of Life portal. The beta version of that will be launched at the end of this year. There will be a lot more assistance and it is a lot more intuitive use of the portal to help families to navigate this process and also to make planning ahead of the End of Life moment.

Dr Chia Shi-Lu (Tanjong Pagar): I just want to clarify – does the assistance rendered by the Legal Aid Bureau also extend to various miscellaneous administrative fees? For example, with certain court fees, does the Legal Aid Bureau extend financial aid to cover those fees as well? And if not, what avenues can the applicants go to, to get aid for those fees?

Mr Edwin Tong Chun Fai: The Legal Aid Bureau looks at each case on its own merits. As I mentioned earlier, the criteria are set out there. We look at it in terms of valuing legal services, deciding what is the right kind of lawyer or legal assistance that is needed and this may on occasion also extend to the fees that are necessary. The bigger chunk of the resourcing that is needed, which Legal Aid Bureau helps with, would be the cost of the legal service as legal representation itself.