Legal Aid Queensland: Free Help, Grants and the Means Test

Legal Aid Queensland (LAQ) is the statutory commission that provides free and subsidised legal help across Queensland, and the first step for almost any Queensland legal problem is the same free call: 1300 65 11 88. LAQ is established by section 41 of the Legal Aid Queensland Act 1997 (Qld); the Act's main objects (section 3) are to give legal assistance to financially disadvantaged people in the most effective, efficient, and economical way, and to pursue arrangements for legal assistance at a reasonable cost to the community and on an equitable basis throughout the State. It is a body corporate that does not represent the State, governed by a Legal Aid Board under Part 4 of the Act, with day to day operations run by a Chief Executive Officer under Part 5. The Attorney-General can give the Board written directions under section 63, but not about legal assistance for a particular person.

This article covers legal aid delivered by Legal Aid Queensland under Queensland's own legislation and the Commonwealth funding rules that apply nationally, including the National Access to Justice Partnership 2025 to 2030. It does not cover legal aid in any other state or territory; see the Australia legal aid hub for the other commissions.

Free legal help without a means test

Several Legal Aid Queensland services are free regardless of income or assets.

The legal information line is 1300 65 11 88, Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 4:30pm AEST, excluding public holidays (overseas callers can use +61 7 3518 6206). It gives general legal information and can arrange a free advice session with a lawyer where the problem is more serious and the caller meets LAQ's eligibility criteria. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Information Line is 1300 65 01 43. The Youth Legal Advice Hotline, 1800 527 527 (1800 LAQ LAQ), is for people under 18 or matters in the Childrens Court, covering legal rights, bail, diversion, applying for aid, and dealing with police; it runs Monday to Thursday 8am to 9pm and Friday 8am through Sunday 5pm, excluding Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Christmas Day.

A commonly repeated but incorrect claim is that 1300 267 762 is a duty lawyer call-ahead number. It is not: that number is Counselling Notes Protect, a specific service for resisting subpoenas or disclosure of sexual assault counselling records in criminal or domestic violence proceedings. LAQ has no dedicated duty lawyer booking line; its own guidance is to call the 1300 65 11 88 information line to check duty lawyer availability before a court date, then attend the courthouse and ask court staff.

Duty lawyer services are free and not means tested. They cover criminal matters in the Magistrates Court, family law matters in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, child protection matters in the Childrens Court, and domestic and family violence matters in the Magistrates Court. A duty lawyer can advise, help with forms, and sometimes appear on the day, but does not take on the ongoing case. Related free services at Brisbane Magistrates Court include the Women's Domestic Violence Court Assistance Service and the Application Assistance Program; readers dealing with a domestic violence order in Queensland can also see the Queensland domestic violence order guide.

Other free, non-means-tested lines: the Drug Diversion Legal Advice Line, 1300 004 924, for people 18 and over; the Disaster legal helpline, 1300 527 700, for bushfire, cyclone, storm, or flood legal issues; callers who are deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment can contact LAQ through the National Relay Service and ask for 1800 998 980; and the Translating and Interpreting Service on 13 14 50, which can connect a caller to LAQ. The means test is also waived entirely (not just the contribution) for advice and duty lawyer work, veterans and dependants seeking assistance under Part II of the Veterans' Entitlement Act 1986, NDIS external merits review, preventing disclosure of counselling communications, any applicant aged 17 or under, and independent or separate representation of children in family law or child protection proceedings.

Getting a grant: the means test

A full grant, where LAQ funds a solicitor to run a case, first requires passing a means test. There is no single income figure: the Grants Policy Manual's Table 1 sets a contribution-free threshold and a maximum income threshold separately across eighteen rows covering household type, work status, and number of dependent children. As two examples, a single applicant in the workforce with no children is contribution-free up to 695 dollars gross weekly income with a maximum threshold of 1,040 dollars, while a couple both in the workforce with no children is contribution-free up to 855 dollars with a maximum of 1,180 dollars; assistance is not normally granted above the maximum threshold. Applicants who rely on full Centrelink payments for their income are deemed to pass the income test.

The assets test exempts the first 146,000 dollars of equity in the applicant's home (or in savings to buy one, if the contract predates the legal problem), household furniture and tools of trade unless exceptionally valuable, the first 16,000 dollars of car equity, the first 2,000 dollars of savings, and payments under the National Redress Scheme or the Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme. Applicants over 60 who receive an income-tested benefit and have lived in their home for five years or more (or moved for disability or illness) get a higher home equity exemption of 292,000 dollars. Farmers and small business owners can get equity exemptions of 166,750 to 357,500 dollars depending on homeownership and outside financial help. In family law and domestic violence property disputes, up to 200,000 dollars of assets in dispute can be disregarded under the Commonwealth Family Law Guideline. Above 930 dollars in assessable assets for a single applicant with no dependants, or 1,880 dollars for anyone else, a contribution is triggered, on a sliding scale from 20 dollars up to dollar for dollar above 3,200 dollars.

A lifestyle test can override a passing income and assets result: if an applicant's actual lifestyle is inconsistent with their declared means, such as using assets that are not legally theirs or having recently divested assets around the time the legal problem arose, LAQ can refuse aid unless the applicant gives a satisfactory explanation. A separate discretionary path, the Means Test Special Circumstances Guidelines, can still grant aid to someone over the asset limit who cannot access those assets, or who holds illiquid assets with no real employment prospects, though they may have to pay costs or give security over property.

These figures come from a Legal Aid Queensland page last updated in November 2022, as displayed live in September 2026. Confirm current figures directly with Legal Aid Queensland before relying on them for a specific application.

The merit test

Alongside the means test, an application must pass a three part merits test: Reasonable Prospects of Success, meaning the matter is more likely than not to succeed on its legal and factual merits; the Prudent Self-Funding Litigant test, asking whether someone paying their own costs would risk the money on this case; and Appropriateness of Spending Limited Public Funds, weighing the likely benefit against the cost. LAQ's own policy gives examples of spending it considers inappropriate, such as a court application purely to obtain a passport without a co-parent's consent, or a dispute over a trivial matter like bus fare in a parenting case.

What Legal Aid Queensland funds, and what it does not

Funded matters are split between Commonwealth and Queensland priorities. Commonwealth priorities include family law matters involving children, family violence, or complex parenting and support issues; Commonwealth criminal matters where the accused is a child or facing likely imprisonment; and Commonwealth civil matters such as veterans, social security, migration where other funded services cannot help, employment and discrimination, consumer law, the Proceeds of Crime Act, extradition, and Community Safety Orders. Queensland priorities include specified criminal proceedings in the District and Supreme Courts, indictable Childrens Court matters, criminal appeals, Mental Health Court references, bail, and certain summary trials; and civil matters including child protection, domestic violence, mental health, the Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act, workers compensation, inquests, discrimination, and consumer credit matters.

LAQ's general "legal problems we can help with" page separately lists matters the service will not take on: company and business disputes, employment contracts, commercial transactions, tenancy issues, real estate matters, will making and powers of attorney, shares and investments, personal injury (outside the separate Civil Law Legal Aid Scheme, which prioritises matters involving children, personal injury, or risk of losing a home or livelihood), taxation and superannuation, workers compensation, planning and environmental law, local government nuisance issues, and COVID-19 restriction matters. The workers compensation entry sits awkwardly against its own listing as a Queensland civil priority for grants of aid; a reader with a specific workers compensation matter should confirm directly with LAQ or a solicitor rather than assume an answer either way.

Priority groups recur across both lists rather than forming one separate list: children, people affected by family violence, people with intellectual, psychiatric, or physical disability, people from non-English-speaking backgrounds, people in remote locations, and people at risk of social exclusion.

Funding nationally now runs through the National Access to Justice Partnership 2025 to 2030, which replaced the National Legal Assistance Partnership on 1 July 2025. LAQ's own Grants Policy Manual priorities page, last updated in 2015, still refers to an older predecessor funding agreement by name; where an LAQ policy document uses that older name, it reflects the document's own age rather than a change in current national funding arrangements.

Contributions and charges over property

If both income and assets clear the contribution-free threshold, a grant carries no contribution. If either is above it, the initial contribution is the sum of the income-based and asset-based amounts from the relevant tables, and no grant is made at all if the calculated contribution would exceed the likely cost of the case. One contribution applies even across multiple matters applied for together. Prior payment of private legal fees is not credited against the contribution. Solicitors, not LAQ directly, are usually responsible for collecting the initial contribution from their first payment.

A retrospective contribution can be assessed at the end of a matter where the grant preserved or recovered the client's property or money, capped at ordinary professional costs less any contribution already paid, with interest accruing on unpaid amounts from grants made on or after 1 September 1990. LAQ can take a mortgage or other security over an assisted person's land or property, and a first statutory charge attaches to money or property recovered or preserved in the matter until the contribution is paid; a conveyance done to defeat that charge is void except against a genuine purchaser for value without notice. Only LAQ itself can terminate a grant, and assisted people must proactively notify LAQ of any change in their financial circumstances.

How to apply

Start with the 1300 65 11 88 information line or the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Information Line, which can arrange an advice session, before applying for a grant. To receive a grant an applicant must clear the means test, the merits test, and have a matter that fits the funding guidelines. Applications can go through a private lawyer who does legal aid work, or directly to LAQ, using a downloadable application form available at any of LAQ's 14 offices, by emailing info@legalaid.qld.gov.au, or by phoning 1300 65 11 88 for a mailed form. A separate client authority form lets someone else communicate with LAQ on the applicant's behalf. Questions about an existing application go to 1300 383 900. No published decision turnaround time was found on LAQ's own site; a reader with an urgent deadline should ask LAQ directly how long a decision is likely to take in their case.

If a grant is refused: review

Legal Aid Queensland Act 1997 section 21 requires only that the Legal Aid Board establish a review mechanism it considers appropriate; the specific process below is Board policy made under that section, not the Act's own text, and could change by Board decision without amending the Act. An applicant or their solicitor can request a review. The request first goes back to the original decision maker to reconsider; if aid still cannot be approved, an internal review is decided by a different, more senior LAQ officer. LAQ's Grants Handbook lists decisions that skip straight to external review: an initial refusal made by the Chief Executive Officer personally, refusal of an appeal matter where counsel has already given a merits opinion, and imposition of a retrospective contribution (the Grants Policy Manual instead lists contribution decisions among those that go to internal review first, so check which route applies). External review is conducted by independent solicitors or barristers appointed by the Legal Aid Board, who can confirm, vary, or substitute the original decision; the applicant is normally offered a telephone interview, and the decision is treated as final for two years absent a material change in circumstances. The Act itself sets no time limit, but LAQ's Grants Policy Manual requires an internal review request in writing within 28 days of receiving notice of the decision (LAQ may extend this in exceptional circumstances), and an external review application within 28 days of notification of the internal review decision.

Beyond LAQ, a complaint can go to the Queensland Ombudsman or the Commonwealth Ombudsman, though an Ombudsman generally will not act until internal LAQ avenues are exhausted. Judicial review of an adverse decision is available in the Supreme Court under the Judicial Review Act 1991, and an applicant can first ask LAQ for a statement of reasons.

Where else to go

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service (Queensland) partners with LAQ on applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients; if a grant is approved, LAQ generally pays counsel's fees and disbursements only, not the referred solicitor's professional fees directly. Queensland's community legal centres (Community Legal Centres Queensland keeps a find-a-centre directory) work under the same funding arrangement. LAQ maintains a directory of private lawyers who do legal aid work, and the Queensland Law Society offers a general referral service. Court-adjacent free help includes Court Network volunteers, LawRight (whose court services help self-represented people with civil, not family or criminal, matters in the District and Supreme Courts and Court of Appeal), and Victim Assist Queensland. For related Queensland topics, see the Australia family law hub and Australian court records.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the phone number for Legal Aid Queensland?

The legal information line is 1300 65 11 88, Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 4:30pm AEST, excluding public holidays (overseas callers can use +61 7 3518 6206); it can arrange a free advice session with a lawyer for eligible callers. Questions about an existing application go to 1300 383 900. There is also an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Information Line on 1300 65 01 43 and a Youth Legal Advice Hotline on 1800 527 527. The number 1300 267 762 is a separate service, Counselling Notes Protect, for sexual assault counselling record privilege; it is not a duty lawyer booking line.

Is Legal Aid Queensland free?

Legal advice, duty lawyer services at court, and several specific helplines are free with no means test, though LAQ arranges an advice session only where the problem is more serious and the caller meets its eligibility criteria. A full grant of legal assistance, where LAQ funds a solicitor to run a case from start to finish, requires passing a means test and a merits test, and may carry a contribution depending on the applicant's income and assets.

What income qualifies for legal aid in Queensland?

There is no single income figure. The Grants Policy Manual sets contribution-free and maximum income thresholds separately for eighteen combinations of household type, work status, and number of dependent children. For example, a single applicant in the workforce with no children is contribution-free up to 695 dollars gross weekly income, with a maximum threshold of 1,040 dollars; a couple both in the workforce with no children is contribution-free up to 855 dollars, with a maximum of 1,180 dollars. Applicants who rely on full Centrelink payments for their income are deemed to pass the income test. These figures were current on the Legal Aid Queensland website as read in September 2026, drawn from a page last updated in November 2022, so they should be reconfirmed directly with Legal Aid Queensland before relying on them for a specific application.

Does Legal Aid Queensland help with family law and child protection matters?

Yes. Family law matters involving children, family violence, or complex parenting and support issues are a stated Commonwealth funding priority, and child protection proceedings are a stated Queensland civil priority. Duty lawyers also appear in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia and the Childrens Court, and Family Advocacy and Support Services operate in the family law courts in Brisbane, Townsville, Rockhampton, and Cairns.

Can I appeal if Legal Aid Queensland refuses my application?

Most refusals are first reconsidered by the original decision maker and then go to an internal review by a more senior officer, then can go to an independent External Review Officer appointed by the Legal Aid Board. Some decisions, such as a refusal made by the Chief Executive Officer personally, skip straight to external review. An internal review request must be made in writing within 28 days of receiving notice of the decision, and an external review within 28 days of the internal review decision; LAQ may extend the first limit in exceptional circumstances. An external review decision is treated as final for two years absent a material change in circumstances.

Does Legal Aid Queensland cover tenancy disputes or workers compensation claims?

Legal Aid Queensland lists tenancy issues among the general problems its advice and representation service does not take on. Workers compensation is more complicated: it appears as a named Queensland civil funding priority for grants of aid in the Grants Policy Manual, while the general legal problems page separately lists workers compensation among matters it will not help with. Anyone with a specific workers compensation matter should confirm directly with Legal Aid Queensland or a solicitor rather than assume either way.