One of the important aspects of the Legal Aid Service is to support beneficiaries in family law matters. Family law matters include issues related to a family.

The Legal Aid Service offers free legal consultations in order to ensure protection of rights of beneficiaries. They are entitled to use person-to-person and telephone/online consultation services. Legal Aid Service provides legal assistance on family law disputes to an insolvent person whose case falls into the category of complex and important cases.

Family law disputes are diverse and include following issues:

• Divorce;
• Annulment of marriage;
• Division of property/joint property;
• Determination of place of residence of a child and alimony obligations;
• Reciprocal support of the spouses;
• Establishment of paternity;
• Status of a single parent;
• Parental rights and duties towards children;
• Other family related issues.

One of the grounds for termination of marriage is divorce. In the case of dispute between the spouses a proceeding for divorce shall be carried out in a court, in other cases divorce is performed at the office of the registration of civil acts.

In case a marriage was made with no intent to create a family or the marriage was registered in violation of law it may be declared void by the court. 

The court is obliged to decide on partition of a property in case of property dispute between the spouses during the divorce proceedings. Only the property owned in common by the spouses can be divided. Common property is a marital property acquired during the marriage.

If the spouses do not agree on the place of residence of the children and the expenses for their support, then the court shall determine which parent shall be awarded the custody of which child, as well as which parent shall be ordered to provide the child support (Alimony).

The spouses are obliged to provide material support to each other. In particular, one spouse is obliged to support another in case later is a disabled who is in need of material support; In addition, husband is obliged to support a wife during pregnancy and for a period of three years after the birth of a child. In case spouse fails to perform this obligation voluntarily a court may order performance of obligation of material support.

Filiation between a child and parents not married to each other shall be determined by joint application of the parents and birth certificate of a child. If the parents do not make a joint application or in case of failure to present joint application, then paternity may be established in a court proceeding on the application of one of the parents, the guardian (curator) of the child or the person who provides maintenance for the child, as well as on the application of the child himself or herself, having attained the age of majority. The court shall determine paternity according to the results of a biological (genetic) or anthropological tests conducted for determining the paternity of a child.

A single parent is a person having the status of single mother or single father. A single mother is a person who has a child under the age of 18 born out of wedlock, if no record of the father of the child has been entered into the birth certificate of a child as well as a person who has an adoptive child of under the age of 18 and who was not in registered marriage at the time of adopting a child. A single father is a person who has a child under the age of 18 born out of wedlock, if no record of the mother of the child has been entered into the birth certificate of a child as well as a person who has an adoptive child of under the age of 18 and who was not in registered marriage at the time of adopting the child.  The grounds for revocation of single parent status  are when a person who has this status enters into registered marriage or his/her child (adoptive child) reaches the age of 18 also other circumstances under the legislation of Georgia that rule out the possibility of having single parent status.

Parents shall have equal rights and duties with respect to their children. A child shall have the right to live and grow up in a family. Parents are entitled and obligated to raise their children, take care of their physical, mental, spiritual and social development, and bring them up as decent members of society, taking into account the best interests of the children.

Parents/legal representatives of minors must not use such child-rearing methods that may cause physical and/or mental suffering of minors. Parents shall have the duty to maintain their children, determine with whom and where their child should live. Parents are obligated to protect the rights and interests of their minor children. Parents shall decide all matters relating to the upbringing of children by mutual agreement.

The decision regarding the rendering of free legal aid (court representation) on the family law matters can be made by the legal aid bureau as well as court reasoned judgement based on the motion of a party.  

Legal Acts

• Constitution of Georgia
• Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
• Convention on the Rights of the Child
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
• Convention of 19 October 1996 on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Co-operation in Respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children
• Civil Code of Georgia
• Civil Procedure Code of Georgia
• Law of Georgia on Adoption and Foster Care 
• Law of Georgia on Legal Aid
• Law of Georgia on Advocates
• Ordinance #424 of the Government of Georgia on Approval of a Rule for Determination of Insolvency of a Person  
• Decision #20 of the Legal Aid Board on Approval of Regulation of the Legal Entity of Public Law – Legal Aid Service 
• Decision #27 of the Legal Aid Board on Approval of Criteria for Providing Legal Aid Service determined under article 5 and 3 of the Law of Georgia on Legal Aid 
• Professional Code of Ethics for Lawyers

Scope of Service

In the course of conducting defense on civil and/or administrative cases, the lawyer of Legal Aid Service, as the rule conducts following actions:

• Reviews the information and case materials.
• Meets with the client and provides legal advice
• Analyzes the information related to the case, ensures the collection of evidence and submission with the court for the purpose of successful conduct of the case.
• Represents the client in court
• Drafts legal documents related to the case – motions, claims, counterclaims, motions complaints, applications.
• Informs the client an in case of necessity his/her legal representative on the course of conduct of the case.

Terms of Use of the Service

The Legal Aid Service provides free legal assistance in family law matters if a person is insolvent and his/her matter falls into the category of complex and important cases.

A person is considered to be insolvent and entitled to use legal services on state’s expense if he/she is a member of a family registered in the unified database of socially vulnerable families, whose socioeconomic index is equal or below 70 000.

In addition, person is considered to be insolvent and has right to use the legal services on the state’s expense  in case he/she is a member of a family registered in the unified database of socially vulnerable families, whose socioeconomic index is equal or below 100 000 and belongs to one of the categories listed below: 

• Member of a multi-child family with more than 3 children under age of 18;
• War and the Military Veterans;
• Person with limited capacity status under age of 18;
• Adults with significant and severe expression of disabilities;
• A person with significant, severe or moderate expression of disabilities, in case it started from childhood;
• Orphan under the age of 18;
• People displaced as a result of the aggression by The Russian Federation against Georgia.

The legal services can be provided in special circumstances to those people who are not registered in the unified database of socially vulnerable families but due to difficult social-economical condition cannot afford to cover the expenses of legal assistance. This is regulated by the Decision #27 of the Legal Aid Service Board adopted on September 9, 2015. This condition applies to the persons who belong to the following categories:

• Persons who met the criteria of insolvency and their data is available at the archives of unified database of socially vulnerable families;
• Persons whose difficult social-economical condition is proved by the certificate issued by the local self-governing institutions;
• Persons with incurable and serious disease;
• Single mother who has juvenile children;
• Person acknowledged as a victim of political repressions;
• Pensioner;
• Lawyer employed by the Legal Aid Service, his/her family member and relative;
• Family who lost bread-winner;
• Beneficiaries of the Program on Rehabilitation and Resocialization of Former Prisoners of  LEPL “Crime Prevention Center”;
• Beneficiaries of international humanitarian union “Catharsis” (Charity House).