Free legal aid can be provided as primary legal aid and secondary legal aid.
*Primary legal aid provided by the Ministry of Justice includes:
- initial legal advice on the right to use free legal aid;
- general legal information;
- general legal advice;
- assistance in completing the application for secondary legal aid.
Primary legal aid can be provided by the Ministry of Justice, as well as by the regional departments of the Ministry of Justice, the authorized association and the legal clinic.
All natural persons who have a stay or permanent residence on the territory of the Republic of North Macedonia have the right to primary legal aid.
*Secondary legal aid is granted to a person who needs professional legal assistance from a lawyer for a specific legal matter and who is unable to pay the costs of the procedure due to their financial situation and whose request is justified.
Secondary legal aid is provided by lawyers and it consists of representation in civil court proceedings, representation in administrative proceedings before the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund, the Health Insurance Fund, representation before a competent notary in a procedure for disputing an inheritance, etc.
What conditions must the applicant for free legal aid meet?
- the monthly income of the applicant who lives alone does not exceed the amount of the minimum net salary in the Republic of North Macedonia, determined by the regulations in the field of the minimum wage;
- the monthly income of the applicant who lives in a common household with his family members does not exceed the amount of the minimum net salary and the monthly income of each subsequent family member does not exceed the amount of 20% of the minimum net salary determined by the regulations in the field of the minimum wage.
In addition, the following are not considered income:
- cash compensation for assistance and care from another person;
- parental allowance for a child;
- child allowance and special allowance;
- compensation for physical impairment;
- social cash assistance;
- permanent financial assistance;
- one-time financial assistance and assistance in kind;
- financial assistance for the costs of a person placed and compensation for taking care of a person in a foster family;
- one-time financial assistance for a newborn;
- statutory child support that is adjusted to the increase in the cost of living for the previous year, published by the State Statistical Office, in January for the current year;
- financial assistance for social housing;
- compensation for an enumerator for performing work related to the implementation of the census of the population, households and apartments of the holder and members of the households in the Republic of North Macedonia;
- scholarship;
- funds approved by a competent institution for medical treatment abroad;
- deafness allowance;
- blindness and mobility allowance;
- compensation for part-time work due to caring for a child with physical or mental disabilities and
- financial assistance to a person who until the age of 18 had the status of a child without parents and parental care.
Secondary legal aid will be granted to the applicant, if, based on the submitted statement on the financial condition of the applicant and his family members, it is determined that:
-the applicant for legal aid and his family members own only one single-family dwelling or apartment as a separate part of the building in which they live;
-the applicant and his family members own one or more physically connected cadastral plots with a total area not exceeding 300 m² in the city of Skopje or 500 m2 in the municipalities of the Republic of North Macedonia, i.e. one or more cadastral plots with a total area not exceeding 5000 m² in rural areas;
- have only one registered motor vehicle the engine volume of which does not exceed 1,200 cubic centimeters.