How to fund specialist legal advice for an inquest or a claim

When a death has occurred in certain circumstances, families can use public funding to access legal representation at an inquest. This is known as Legal Aid or public funding. This may be available when a person has died in the care of the state, such as in prison, police custody, detention centre or whilst sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

When a client comes to us to ask to ask about legal representation, one of the first things that we check is whether they, or the person who died, had any insurance policies in place. This could be home insurance, car insurance, credit card insurance, or any others. Some policies provide for legal expenses, which can include payment for legal representation at an inquest or for pursuing a claim in negligence.

Many people do not realise this inclusion is part of their insurance policies, but it is important to check to be sure as this could mean legal representation will be paid by the insurer and the family will not have to pay anything. Legal expenses insurance can often cover the cost of specialist legal advice both for representation at an inquest and for a claim for negligence after someone has died.

A ‘no win, no fee’ agreement, known as a Conditional Fee Agreement, is where a solicitor agrees to represent a family with no immediate cost to be paid. This means that if the case does not succeed then there are no legal costs to be paid.

If the claim for compensation succeeds, then a small percentage is deducted to cover the legal costs to reflect the risk taken by the firm in running the case with no guarantee of payment.

As inquests are an investigation and not a litigation process, no financial compensation is awarded at a hearing. However, we often agree to represent families at inquests under a ‘no win, no fee’ agreement if the family would like to pursue a claim after the inquest has finished (and if there are sufficient prospects of success to do so).

In some cases, solicitors and barristers may provide representation at an inquest for no cost, referred to as ‘pro bono’. This is best discussed with a solicitor and is often provided through charities or other organisations that can help.

Where no other funding is available, families can fund legal representations themselves. For an inquest, solicitors can often offer ‘fixed fees’ so there is some certainty about what the representation will cost.