Legal expense claims for making an application

Our applications are designed to be completed by the applicant, but some people like to ask a lawyer for help. You can claim certain legal expenses you have incurred for helping you with your application.

Approved application types
Approved providers
Claimable legal expenses
How to claim
Payment process
Limitations
Timeframe

Approved application types

Primary, related and parent secondary victims, as well as people who witness a homicide, may claim specific legal expenses outlined below.

Approved providers

It’s up to you which lawyer you go to. They need to be an Australian legal practitioner or government legal officer, within the meaning of the Legal Profession Act 2007 or hold an equivalent overseas qualification.

Community Legal Centres Queensland may be able to help you find a legal centre near you that can help you make your application. Community legal centres provide free legal advice and assistance to those in their community that are eligible. Contact them by emailing admin@communitylegalqld.org.au or phoning (07) 3392 0092.

If you choose to use a private law firm, they may charge a fee. You may be able to claim all or part of this fee.

Claimable legal expenses

You can only claim fees incurred for:

getting advice from a legal practitioner about applying for financial assistance
completing an application form (which includes providing supporting evidence)
using legal representation for your application (asking a lawyer to make a submission on your behalf).

We cannot pay fees for any other legal services. This includes other services that may be related to the act of violence.

You should always ask the legal firm to clearly explain to you:

what work they will do
what fees they will charge
if they want you to pay to them any additional amounts including a part of any financial assistance you receive.

Approved costs

If your claim is approved, we can pay up to $500 for legal costs incurred by you to apply for financial assistance.

How to claim

To claim financial assistance for the first time, you need to:

report the violence
complete the application form and attach
- information about your injuries
- identity documents
- an invoice or receipt for the legal expenses.

If you need to add a new expense to an application you have already submitted, use our expenses form.

Legal representation

If you are asking the lawyer to act on your behalf, provide:

the contact details for the lawyer
a copy of your consent to have the lawyer act on your behalf.

You can withdraw your consent at any time. Email VictimAssist@justice.qld.gov.au and tell us you don’t want the lawyer to act on your behalf anymore. You should also tell the lawyer that you no longer need their services.

Payment process

If your claim is approved, we will send you a 'notice of decision'. This notice will list what we have agreed to pay for, who we will be paying and the conditions on the payment.

Please don’t tell a service provider that we will pay for something before you get the notice of decision. The notice of decision will say if we will pay the cost or not.

Once you receive your notice of decision and your claim is approved, electronic payments will be deposited into your nominated bank account within 10 business days.

Common payment conditions

Paid expenses

We must reimburse the person who paid the cost if it has been paid already. This may have been you or it may have been a family member, friend, or agency.

If someone else paid the cost for you, we need to pay them back. Provide their name, phone number or email address and banking information.

Unpaid expenses

If the cost hasn’t been paid yet, provide an invoice so we can pay the service provider directly.

It is important that the invoice is made out to your name to show that you are the person who received the service or goods . The invoice should not be made out to Victim Assist.

Other conditions (if any) will be stated in your notice of decision.

Limitations

We can’t cover every expense you may incur because of violence. We can’t pay:

expenses exceeding $500
legal fees for services that are not related to making a financial assistance claim (e.g. domestic violence protection orders, lawsuits, family court matters, immigration matters, tenancy or other financial matters, other criminal matters).

Timeframe

Due to the high number of claims already waiting, it may be many months before we can assess your application and pay approved expenses.

If you have an urgent expense, and meet the conditions for claiming urgent expenses, we may prioritise the assessment of these expenses. If we decide the expenses don’t meet these conditions, we’ll let you know.

Non-urgent expenses will be queued for assessment within normal timeframes.