Where Can I Find Help with My Legal Problem?

There are a range of services in BC that can offer assistance with your legal situation. Many of them help people with a low income. Clicklaw’s HelpMap can point you to legal information and advice services in your community, and if the service is free, low cost and/or dependant on proof of low income.

The following legal advice services can help you with your legal situation:

• Low Cost and Free Legal Services Dial-A-Law script provides an extensive list of services.
• Handout: Legal Advice and Representation on a Budget Compares three services that provide legal advice: Access Pro Bono; Legal Services Society (Legal Aid); and Lawyer Referral Service.
• Legal Help and Information if you Represent Yourself in Court

Handout provides an overview of services.

• Know any good lawyers? Legal Help for BC guide describes steps involved in seeking a lawyer.
• A Guide to a Successful Interview with a Lawyer Supreme Court guidebook describes how to prepare your information to get the best out of your first meeting with a lawyer.
• CBABC Legal Directory. Published by the Canadian Bar Association BC Branch, this annual print resource is available in most public libraries as well as Courthouse Libraries. It lists all lawyers in BC by region, area of law practice, and languages spoken.

If you are unable to find a service that helps with your legal problem, you might want to contact the office of your local Member of Legislative Assembly or Member of Parliament to let them know that you have not been able to find a service to help you

In contract law, the expression, either orally or in writing, of a willingness to be bound by a proposed agreement, contract, or settlement. See "offer to settle."

In law, to formally deliver documents to a person in a manner that complies with the rules of court. Service may be ordinary (mailed or delivered to a litigant's address for service), personal (hand-delivered to a person), or substituted (performed in a way other than the rules normally require). See "address for delivery," "ordinary service," "personal service" and "substituted service."

In law, a person who relies on someone else for their support and the necessities of life. See "child," "child support," and "spousal support."

(1) Information which establishes or tends to establish the truth of a fact, or (2) the conclusion of a logical argument. See "evidence" and "premises."

A person licensed to practice law in a particular jurisdiction by that jurisdiction's law society. See "barrister and solicitor."

Normally referred to as the "Supreme Court of British Columbia," this court hears most of the trials in this province. The Supreme Court is a court of inherent jurisdiction and has no limits on the sorts of claims it can hear or on the sorts of orders it can make. Decisions of the Provincial Court are appealed to the Supreme Court; decisions of the Supreme Court are appealed to the Court of Appeal. See "Court of Appeal," "jurisdiction," "Provincial Court" and "Supreme Court of Canada."

Under the Family Law Act, a term that describes the time a person who is not a guardian of a child, including a parent who is not a guardian, has with that child. Under the Divorce Act, a term that describes the time a person who is not a married spouse has with a child. See "guardian" and "parental responsibilities."