Legal aid means that the state covers the court fees and the legal fees for your lawyer. The state will also pay the costs of your opponent if you lose the case.

You can read more about legal aid here.

Both individuals and legal entities, such as a company or an association, can generally apply for legal aid.

You can apply on your own behalf, or you can have someone help you. If you choose to have someone help you who is not a lawyer, you must send a power of attorney to the Department of Civil Affairs. You will find a link to a power of attorney that you can fill out and use during the application process.

In general, you cannot get legal aid if you have insurance covering the case, or if you do not meet the financial criteria for legal aid.

You can read more about insurance here and about the financial criteria here.

Legal aid can be granted by the Department of Civil Affairs or the court. It depends on the type of case whether the application should be submitted to the Department of Civil Affairs or the court.

You can read more about when you should send your application to the court here and on the court's website.

On www.domstol.dk, you can read more about when to send the application to the court.

When applying for legal aid at the Department of Civil Affairs, you should generally use the digital self-service. You can read more about exceptions and dispensations for using the self-service here.

The rules for legal aid only apply to cases that can be handled in civil procedure.

Therefore, you cannot get legal aid for:

• Cases handled administratively, such as at a rent board, by a municipality, by the Danish Labour Market Insurance, by the Agency of Family Law, or by the Danish Appeals Board.
• Cases that fall under criminal procedure, such as if you are charged or a witness in a criminal case.

There is a limit to how much you can earn in order to qualify for legal aid.

Your annual income for 2023 is the determining factor unless your income has changed significantly since then. If your income has changed significantly, your and your partner’s current income may be considered.

The income limits as of January 1, 2025, are:

• Single applicants: DKK 385,000
• Applicants in marriage or cohabitation: DKK 490,000
• Increase for each child: DKK 67,000

Note that the amounts are only increased if the child lives with you or is predominantly supported by you.

You can refer to the regulations on legal aid to see which income amounts from your annual statement are included in the income base used by the Department of Civil Affairs.

You can read more about the financial criteria here.

The Department of Civil Affairs requires certain information in order to make a decision regarding your application for legal aid.

You will need the following information:

• Your annual income statement for 2023
• Your partner’s or spouse’s annual income statement for 2023
• Pay slips, unemployment benefit specifications, etc., for the last 3 months, if the 2023 income statement no longer reflects your/your partner’s income
• Information on whether you have legal aid insurance or another insurance, and whether the insurance company covers the costs of the case. If your insurance company has declined legal aid coverage, you need to provide a copy of the rejection
• Information about your opponent’s name and address
• Information about the case (”case description”)
• Information about the desired outcome of the case (”claim”)
• Information about why you believe your desired outcome is correct (”grounds”)
• Information about the opponent’s stance on your claim (e.g., legal documents, letters from the opponent, etc.)
• Any legal complaints or responses to the lawsuit and any further documents (e.g., reply or counter-reply)
• In cases against public authorities or appeals of board decisions, a copy of the authority or board’s decision
• In appeal cases, a copy of the court of first-instance´s judgment

If you are applying on behalf of someone else and are not a lawyer the Department of Civil Affairs will need a power of attorney from you. You will find a link to a power of attorney during the application process.

The application process guides you through the following steps, where you need to input or upload documents with relevant information:

• Information about the applicant
• Information about the opponent
• Information about the lawsuit
• Specific information for family law cases
• Information about deadlines
• Final remarks
• Summary
• Submission of the application

At the end, you will receive a receipt for your application and information about the next steps via Digital Post.

There must be a disagreement between you and your opponent before you can apply for legal aid. You must present your claim to your opponent, and your opponent must indicate disagreement with your claim.

If you have been sued in a legal case, you can apply for legal aid as soon as you are notified that you have been sued.

You should apply for legal aid with the Department of Civil Affairs well in advance of the main hearing of the case so that the department has time to process your application before the case concludes.

An application is usually considered timely if the department receives it (at the latest) four weeks before the main hearing or, in the absence of a main hearing, by the time the case is concluded. This is only the case if the application is complete with the required attachments and information according to the regulations on legal aid.

Late applications will be rejected. However, specific circumstances in the individual case may justify a late application, which the Department of Civil Affairs may still evaluate as timely.

You can contact a legal aid institution to receive free legal advice. You can find a list of legal aid institutions here.

You can also contact a lawyer and ask for legal assistance under the regulations for legal aid with lawyers. You can also contact the court to find out which lawyers provide legal aid.

No. An application for legal aid is an application case, meaning that you are responsible for providing the information needed to make a decision about legal aid. The Department of Civil Affairs does not gather information from other authorities, including the courts, for this purpose.

The application for legal aid itself must be submitted through the digital self-service system. If you wish to submit additional information or documents after applying, you can do so via digital post, email to civilstyrelsen@civilstyrelsen.dk (non-secure email) or sikkerpost@civilstyrelsen.dk (secure email), or by post to Civilstyrelsen, Toldboden 2, 2nd floor, 8800 Viborg.

Note that civilstyrelsen@civilstyrelsen.dk is a non-secure inbox and cannot accept encrypted emails. Encrypted emails must be sent to sikkerpost@civilstyrelsen.dk.

If you want a previously closed case reopened, the request must also be submitted to the Department of Civil Affairs via digital post, email, or post, not through the digital self-service system. Please include the previous case number.

If your opponent is an individual, the Department of Civil Affairs will inform them that their personal data is being processed because we have received an application for legal aid in a lawsuit against them. The agency will also inform them who submitted the application.

If you are exempt from using digital post, you are not required to use the digital self-service system to apply for legal aid with the Departement of Civil Affairs. Instead, you can send your application via email to civilstyrelsen@civilstyrelsen.dk (non-secure email) or sikkerpost@civilstyrelsen.dk (secure email), or by post to the Department of Civil Affairs address.

You can read more about the information you need to send under "What should I have ready before applying for legal aid?"

If you lack IT skills, have a disability, or other circumstances prevent you from using the digital self-service, the Department of Civil Affairs can grant an exemption. The agency can also grant an exemption if you live abroad and do not have a MitID.

In special cases, the agency may accept an application for legal aid in a way other than through the digital self-service. This applies if the case is of such a nature or complexity that it is more practical to process it differently.

If the Department of Civil Affairs receives an application for legal aid that was not submitted via the digital self-service, we may reject the application. This means that we will not process the application and you will need to reapply digitally. If your application is rejected, you will be notified and provided with guidance.

To apply for an exemption, you can contact the Department of Civil Affairs at phone number 3392 3334, via digital post, email to civilstyrelsen@civilstyrelsen.dk (non-secure email), or by post to Civilstyrelsen, Toldboden 2, 2nd floor, 8800 Viborg.

You can normally expect a decision around six months after the application is received by the agency.

Specific circumstances in the case may result in a shorter processing time.

You can appeal a rejection of legal aid from the Department of Civil Affairs to the Process Licensing Board.

Please note that the Process Licensing Board must receive your appeal within 4 weeks of receiving the Department of Civil Affair’s decision.

You can read more about what to do if you wish to appeal the Department of Civils Affair’s decision on the Process Licensing Board’s website.

The Process Licensing Board can be contacted via post@procesbevillingsnaevnet.dk or via Digital Post.

Complaints about an employee can be sent to the Department of Civil Affairs.