| Summary: | Anyone can end up in a legal dispute. Costs often arise in connection with a legal dispute. The main rule under current legislation is that it is primarily private legal insurance that covers the costs. Alternatively, legal assistance may be required from the state. Legal aid is a social protection that seeks to provide assistance to those who are otherwise unable to attend to their legal affairs. For the right to legal aid, certain conditions must be fulfilled, among other things, the applicant's income must not exceed SEK 260,000 per year. The amount was set by law change in 1999 when an increase in the income limit was implemented, but since then no adjustment has been made. So it has been unchanged for over 20 years! At that time, about 80 percent of the population had the right to legal aid in accordance with the income threshold. Today, the corresponding amount of the population is 36 percent. In the preparatory work to the Legal Aid Act, it is alleged that the income limit would be revised every three years and that it should not be set so low that legal aid only came to help the poorest. At present, the most disadvantaged in society are covered and then there are the rich who can afford a court process themselves. When the large middle group, the majority of ordinary income earners, is excluded, the principle of everyone's equality before the law can also be called into question. The purpose of legal aid is that it should act as a kind of outermost safety net, which can be summed up by the fact that legal aid is currently the only safety net for some but will not be available to others.
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