The belief that a lawyer is unaffordable stops more women than the actual cost does. Some of the best routes are free, several are cheap, and knowing which is which is most of the problem.
A second point worth making at the start: a lawyer who has done these cases before is not the same thing as a lawyer. Family and domestic violence work is a specialism, and a competent commercial lawyer may know less about a protection order than the woman applying for one.
The free routes
The Legal Aid Council of Nigeria. A federal body with offices across the country, providing legal representation to people who cannot afford it. There are eligibility criteria and there is a waiting time. Go in person; the office is more reliable than a phone number.
FIDA. The International Federation of Women Lawyers has branches in most states and is one of the most consistent routes to free legal help for women in Nigeria. Family matters, custody, maintenance and domestic violence are their core work.
Office of the Public Defender, where your state has one. Lagos has an established one; several other states have equivalents under different names. Ask at the state Ministry of Justice.
The National Human Rights Commission. Receives complaints, including about how a case has been handled by the police, and can intervene.
NAPTIP administers the VAPP Act in the Federal Capital Territory and receives reports of violence against persons.
Law faculty clinics and NBA pro bono schemes. Many universities run legal clinics, and Nigerian Bar Association branches often have a pro bono committee. Both are underused and both are worth asking about.
Us. Legal protection is one of our six programmes and it is one of the two most requested. We can arrange a lawyer, cover the costs where needed, and send somebody with you.
What a paid lawyer costs
We are not going to print figures, because they vary enormously by state, by seniority and by the complexity of the matter, and a number here would be wrong for most readers.
What you should expect is a structure rather than a mystery. Typically a consultation fee, a professional fee for the matter, and disbursements which are the out-of-pocket costs — filing fees, service of process, transport, and any medical or expert report.
Ask for all of it in writing before you engage anybody. A lawyer who will not put fees in writing is telling you something.
Also ask what happens if the case runs longer than expected, whether payment can be staged, and what the likely total is including disbursements rather than just the professional fee. Cases stall on filing fees far more often than on the main bill.
The questions to ask at the first meeting
- How many of these have you done? Not family law generally — this specific thing. Protection orders, custody where there is violence, maintenance enforcement.
- Which court will this be in, and how long does it usually take there?
- What is the realistic outcome? A lawyer who promises a result at a first meeting is not being straight with you.
- What do you need from me, and by when?
- What is the total likely cost, including filing and disbursements?
- Will my address appear on any document? This is the question nobody asks and it matters enormously if you have moved to get away from him.
- Who will actually handle it, you or somebody junior, and who do I contact?
- What happens if he does not comply with an order?
Write the answers down. If a lawyer is impatient with these questions, that is information about how the rest of it will go.
What to take to the first meeting
Whatever you have, even if it feels like nothing. Identity documents, the marriage certificate or evidence of the marriage, the children’s birth certificates, any medical report, any police reference, photographs, messages, and your written record of what has happened.
Write a one-page summary before you go: what has happened, in date order, and what you want. It saves a consultation fee’s worth of time and it stops the meeting turning into a general conversation about your marriage.
What a court actually finds persuasive is worth reading first, because it changes what you bring.
Warning signs
- Guarantees. Nobody can guarantee a custody or property outcome.
- No written fee agreement, or fees that change without explanation.
- Pressure to settle at a family meeting without proper advice, particularly where his family is paying anybody’s costs.
- Acting for both sides, or a prior relationship with his family. This happens more than it should and it is a serious problem.
- Never being told what is happening. You are entitled to know what stage your case is at.
- Repeated adjournments with no explanation. Some delay is the system. Six months of nothing is your lawyer.
- Being asked for money for a judge or an official. Walk away.
- Discouraging you from reporting a crime because it complicates the civil case. Those are separate and you are entitled to both.
If you cannot pay and cannot wait
Two things are genuinely urgent and should not wait for funding: a protection order where there is a risk of serious harm, and anything involving children being removed.
For those, go to FIDA or the Legal Aid Council in person and say clearly that it is urgent and why. Go to the police in parallel rather than waiting for a lawyer, since a criminal complaint does not require one. And contact us, because urgent legal cost is exactly what that part of our funding is for.
What applying involves sets out the process, including the fact that somebody else can apply on your behalf with your consent, which matters if you cannot safely attend court yourself.
Changing lawyers
You are allowed to. Women stay with a lawyer who is doing nothing because they feel they cannot start again, and that costs more time than the change would.
Ask for your file, in writing. It is your file. Get a receipt for anything you have paid, and go to somebody else. A case that has stalled for a year with one lawyer frequently moves within weeks with another.
Questions people ask
Is there really free legal help in Nigeria?
Yes. The Legal Aid Council has offices across the country, FIDA has branches in most states and does exactly this work, some states have an Office of the Public Defender, and there are university clinics and Bar Association pro bono schemes. There are waiting times, so go in person.
How much does a lawyer cost?
It varies too much by state and complexity for a figure here to be useful. What matters is that you get a consultation fee, a professional fee and disbursements set out in writing before you engage anybody.
What is the most important question to ask?
How many of this specific kind of case they have done. After that, whether your address will appear on any document, which almost nobody asks and which matters a great deal if you have moved to get away from him.
My lawyer has done nothing for months. Can I change?
Yes. Ask for your file in writing, get a receipt for what you have paid, and go elsewhere. Cases that stall for a year with one lawyer often move within weeks with another.
I cannot afford anything and it is urgent. What do I do?
Go to FIDA or the Legal Aid Council in person and say it is urgent and why. Report to the police in parallel, since a criminal complaint does not need a lawyer. And contact us — urgent legal cost is what that part of our funding exists for.
If you need help now
If you are in immediate danger, call 112. To talk to HealBridge, call or send a message to +2348025170267, or use the form on our contact page. Every page on this site has a Quick Exit button at the top right, and pressing the letter E three times does the same thing.
Before you rely on anything on this page
We publish these articles so that you can understand a subject and work out what to ask for. They are written carefully and in good faith. They are still general information about how things usually work, and not advice about your situation, which we do not know.
- This is not legal advice.
- We are not a law firm. Criminal law in Nigeria is largely a state matter, the VAPP Act applies in a state only if that state adopted it, and statutory, customary and Islamic marriages are governed by different law and different courts. Two people with the same facts can have genuinely different options. Get advice from a lawyer who practises where you live — and if cost is the obstacle, ask us, because arranging that is part of what we do.
- This is not medical advice.
- Nothing here is a diagnosis and nothing here replaces being examined. Do not delay seeing a doctor, nurse or pharmacist because of something you read here, and do not start, stop or change any treatment on the strength of it. If something is time critical, go and be seen.
- This is not counselling, and it is not financial advice.
- Articles about trauma, sleep, money, debt, renting or starting a business describe what commonly helps. They are not therapy and they are not a recommendation about your own money. Speak to a counsellor, a qualified adviser or your own bank about your circumstances.
- It may be out of date, or wrong for where you are.
- Law changes, services close, numbers stop answering and practice varies by state. We correct what we find, and we cannot promise that every page is current on the day you read it. Where we do not have something confirmed, we say so rather than fill the gap.
- Reading this does not make us your lawyer or your doctor.
- No professional relationship is created by reading an article, and we cannot accept liability for decisions taken on the strength of one. What we can do is help you reach somebody who is qualified to advise you, which is what the legal and health parts of our work exist for.
- We cannot promise an outcome, and we cannot make anybody safe.
- A protection order is a piece of paper backed by an enforcement system that is inconsistent. A plan works until the day it does not. Anybody in this field promising safety is selling something, and the promise itself is dangerous because it stops people planning.
Do not let this notice stop you acting. If you are in immediate danger, call 112. If something is medically urgent, go to a hospital — you do not need a police report to be treated. And if you do not know where to start, that is a normal way to begin: use the contact page and we will take it from there.
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