The Civil Legal Aid (General) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 1991
These Regulations amend the Civil Legal Aid (General) Regulations 1989, primarily to give effect to new procedures resulting from the Children Act 1989. In particular:guardians ad litem and any bodies acting in a representative, fiduciary or official capacity are excluded from representation for the purposes of the Children Act (regulations 3 and 5);effect is given to the amendments to section 15 of the Legal Aid Act 1988 (which waive either the means and merits requirements or just the merits requirements for certain parties to certain proceedings under the Children Act) (regulations 6,8–11, and 14);the scope of legal aid certificates in relation to certain Children Act proceedings may extend to proceedings in the House of Lords or on appeal from a magistrates' court and may relate to more than one cause or matter and need not specify the parties to the proceedings in relation to proceedings under the Children Act (regulations 12 and 13);the £2,500 exemption from the statutory charge and the postponement of enforcement of the charge over money where it is to be used to purchase a home applies to proceedings under Schedule 1 to the Children Act (financial provision for children) (regulations 15 and 16);the rate of interest chargeable where enforcement of the statutory charge is postponed is reduced from 12% per annum to 11% (regulation 17);provision is made for the fees of legal representatives to be assessed in accordance with the provisions of the Legal Aid in Family Proceedings (Remuneration) Regulations 1991 (regulation 18);provision is made for an assisted person with a financial interest in the assessment to make written representations and for his solicitor to inform him of his rights, supply him with a copy of his bill and to endorse on the bill whether or not the assisted person has a financial interest and that he had complied with the other provisions (regulation 19) and corresponding amendments are made where the assisted person has a financial interest in taxation (regulation 21); andregulation 109 (which provides for the disallowance or reduction of costs due to fault on the part of the legal representative) is amended to bring it in line with the new provisions relating to costs against legal representatives under section 51(6) of the Supreme Court Act 1981 (regulation 20).