6.At present, a contribution from capital assets towards the cost of a case can be required at two stages.
	An assisted person has to contribute any disposable capital above a free limit of £3,000 at the start of the case. The property in dispute, and the first £100,000 of equity value that the assisted person owns in his or her home, are discounted when calculating disposable capital. People with disposable capital in excess of £6,000 are generally ineligible for legal aid.
	If, at the end of a successful case, the Legal Aid Board needs to recover any outstanding costs that have not been recovered from the other side, a statutory charge applies to the property in dispute, including the full equity value of the family home if that was in dispute; but not including maintenance payments and the first £2,500 won in a matrimonial case.
The assisted person’s liability to contribute towards the cost of his or her case therefore depends on the nature of the case and whether or not a home was in dispute.
7.In future, there would be a single allowance (initially £3,000) covering both capital contributions and the statutory charge. Any unused allowance from the start of the case could be carried forward to defray the statutory charge. This would replace the £2,500 allowance in matrimonial cases, and produce a simpler and more coherent system with the same rules applying to everyone.
A: Community Legal Service Eligibility, Financial Conditions and Costs Rules Financial Conditions Capital allowance