WHAT REAL-LIFE SITUATION ENABLES YOU TO GET A FREE LEGAL AID?

Abstract

The Law on free legal aid does not contain any definition of a difficult real-life situation. This seems to be rather strange. On the one hand, a citizen can seek for legal advice but later his situation proves to be not a difficult one. On the other hand, being in a difficult a real-life situation, a person has no idea about the extra support on the part of the state in his case. The draft Federal law No 704873-6 "On introduction of changes into Federal law No 102-FZ "On Mortgage (pledge of real estate)" of July 16, 1998 was brought in the State Duma 21.12.2014. The initiators of the bill propose to add the key notion " real-life situation" to the Law on mortgage. They define a difficult real-life situation as such a situation that objectively violates the activity of a proprietor-mortgagor: disability, inability for self-servicing due to the advanced age, illness, orphanhood, non-prosperity, unemployment etc. that he cannot overcome by himself. The given definition is not a perfect one since it does not take into account the possibility of facing a natural catastrophe or emergency. Having analyzed the provisions of federal legislation and laws of the federal subjects of Russia regulating free legal aid in a difficult real-life situation, the author comes to the conclusion about the necessity of developing a definition of a " difficult real-life situation". Thus, a difficult real-life situation implies such circumstances or their totality that violate the daily living activities of a citizen (family) which (or the consequences of which) he cannot overcome by himself. The author thinks that a citizen (family) is considered to be in a difficult real-life situation in the following circumstances: full or partial loss of ability for self-servicing and/or for movement due to the advanced age (women over 55 and men over 60), illness and/or disability; commission of crimes or administrative offences against juveniles or other family members; absence of a definite domicile and occupation (sometimes after the release from prisons); damage caused by emergency situations, armed ethnic conflicts, unlawful actions of other people. Among other grounds are the following: orphanhood, juveniles neglect and homelessness, having disabled adults and/or children in the family.