Service Areas

The Clinic assists clients who qualify for legal aid in:

• Divorces & related matters;
• Drafting of Wills;
• Evictions on behalf of Respondents (i.e. individuals being evicted);
• Assisting with referrals to the Department of Labour and the CCMA;
• General contractual and delictual civil claims, for example damages in motor vehicle accident claims;
• Collections and bad debt cases on behalf of the debtor, including applications for rescissions of judgments;
• Defamation, breach of promise (marriage or engagement) seduction, adultery, intrusion of privacy, loss of integrity, fama or dignitas and related claims on behalf of Defendants;
• Cases in which the protection of children and their rights are at issue;
• Applications for orders relating to interdicts and mandament of spolie in Magistrates’ courts and the Land Claims Court. The Clinic is however not involved in the enforcement of these orders due to cost considerations, unless special projects provide funding;
• Maintenance and family violence matters, in accordance with the Legal Aid Board guidelines:

MAINTENANCE AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CASES

In maintenance and domestic violence cases, Legal Aid SA may provide indigent legal aid applicants with:

1. An initial consultation to advise a possible litigant on his/her rights, the procedure to be followed and the chances of success. 
2. Legal representation under conditions

Legal representation in any court hearing, but only if:

• The legal aid recipient’s claims or defences have a chance of success on balance of probabilities, and
• The opposing party is represented by an admitted legal practitioner or is an admitted legal practitioner. Legal representation in maintenance matters may also be provided where:
• that there has been a failure by the system to enable the applicant to seek or execute the order for a period longer than 12 months, or
• that there is abuse of the system by the other party which makes it difficult for the granting or execution of the order for a period longer than 12 months."

The Clinic does not provide legal aid in the following matters:

• Cases with no legal merits, including cases that have already prescribed;
• Cases where clients do not qualify for legal aid in terms of the prescribed means test;
• Cases where the financial or geographical limits of the Clinic precludes involvement, excluding where special funding permits; 
• Cases where clients make untenable demands, by inter alia providing false or conflicting instructions, thereby forcing the Clinic to withdraw;
• Work related to specialists fields of legal work like IT, patents, liquor licence registrations etc.;
• Registration of bonds and transfer of immovable property;
• Drafting and registration of servitudes and prenuptial contracts;
• Sequestrations, liquidations, rehabilitation and related applications;
• Debt counselling;
• Section 74 administrations and section 65 debt collections, but qualified in so far as that the Clinic will represent debtors in cases with merits;
• Collections. The Clinic will handle eligible cases on behalf of plaintiffs only up to the granting of judgment. Warrants of execution will be issued in client’s own name;
• Road Accident Fund claims;
• Medical negligence claims; · Criminal cases;
• Evictions on behalf of Applicants;
• Claims that should be referred to the Small Claims Court. Claims below R30 000 must be referred to the Small Claims Court with the amount over R20 000 having to be abandoned;
• Claims against COIDA; · Defamation, breach of promise (marriage or engagement) seduction, adultery, intrusion of privacy, loss of integrity, fama or dignitas and related claims on behalf of the Plaintiff. The Clinic will send a warning letter to offending parties and represent Defendants in suits based on these causes of action where merits allow. · Administration of deceased estates; · Applications for substituted service or edictal citation, unless the client pays all expenses associated with these steps;
• High Court litigation in actions, except defending divorce actions.