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Applying for Legal Aid in Portugal

Researched and written with AI tools from official sources. How we make our guides

Who qualifies for state legal aid, what it pays for, how the means test works, how to apply to Social Security, and what to do if you are refused.

The Portugal Brief 11 min read

Applying for Legal Aid in Portugal

Last verified: October 2026.

Who this is for

  • You live in Portugal and need a lawyer, or face court fees, but cannot afford them.
  • You are Portuguese, an EU citizen, or a non-EU citizen with a residence permit.
  • You are suing, being sued, or charged, or you just need legal advice on a problem.

Not for you if: your dispute is a small civil claim, such as an unpaid deposit or a broken purchase under €15,000. Read Resolving a Dispute through the Peace Courts (Julgados de Paz) first.

If you cannot afford the costs of a legal case, the state can help. The help is called legal protection (proteção jurídica). Social Security (Segurança Social) decides it, not the courts. You apply online on Segurança Social Direta, and applying is free. Social Security must decide within 30 days, and if it does not, your request is treated as granted. Depending on your household's means, the state may pay your lawyer and court fees in full, or let you pay them in monthly instalments.

Legal protection has two parts.

Legal consultation (consulta jurídica). A meeting with a lawyer to explain the law on a concrete problem that affects your own rights. The lawyer can also take simple steps that follow from the advice, such as sending a formal letter. This is often all you need.

Legal aid (apoio judiciário). Help with a case that is in court, or about to be. It can take these forms:

  • no court fee (taxa de justiça) or other case costs;
  • a lawyer (patrono) appointed for you and paid by the state;
  • payment of the court-appointed lawyer who defends you in a criminal case (defensor oficioso);
  • the court fee and case costs paid in instalments;
  • an appointed lawyer, with you repaying the fee in instalments;
  • your criminal defence lawyer's fee repaid in instalments;
  • a court officer to carry out enforcement, such as seizing assets after a judgment.

Which form you get depends on the means test below.

Who can apply

You can apply if you show you cannot afford the costs of a case, and you are one of these:

  • a Portuguese or other EU citizen;
  • a foreign national or stateless person with a valid residence permit in any EU country, including Portugal;
  • a foreign national without such a permit, if your country gives Portuguese citizens the same right;
  • someone who lives in one EU country and has a case in another (a cross-border dispute);
  • a non-profit organisation, for court aid only.

Social Security's guide says a company that proves it has little income and cannot pay may get court aid. A non-profit cannot get a legal consultation.

You cannot get legal protection if you sold or mortgaged your assets in order to qualify.

How the means test works

Social Security looks at your household's income and assets, not just yours. Your household means everyone who lives with you and shares meals, money, or support, whether or not they are on your tax return.

It works out a figure called your relevant income. Roughly:

  1. It takes your household's net income, after income tax and compulsory social security contributions.
  2. It adds an imputed return on your assets, such as property, shares, and cars.
  3. It subtracts an allowance for basic needs, based on household size, and an allowance for housing.

The result is compared with the social support index (IAS), which is €537.13 a month in 2026. The lower your relevant income, the more help you get.

Four rules matter:

  • Your home is mostly protected. Your family home only counts if it is worth more than €100,000, and then only the part above €100,000.
  • Savings above a limit rule you out. If you and your household have more than 24 times the IAS in bank deposits and listed shares, you do not qualify, whatever your income. In 2026 that is €12,891.12.
  • You can ask to be assessed alone. If you are in a dispute with someone in your household, such as during a divorce, ask for only your own income to count. You can also ask for another good reason. On the online form, answer "Sim" to the question about a conflict with a household member, and give your reason.
  • Social Security can make an exception. If the formula would clearly deny you access to justice, the head of the Social Security district can decide differently, with written reasons.

Check first with the simulator. Social Security's legal protection simulator (Simulador Proteção Jurídica) tells you whether you are likely to qualify. The result is only a guide.

If you are a victim of domestic violence or sexual crime

If you have been given the status of victim of domestic violence, or you are a victim of a crime against sexual freedom, the law presumes you cannot afford a case. Legal aid must be granted quickly and treated as urgent, and you must get legal advice straight away. Say so on the form.

If you are offered instalments

If you get legal aid in instalments, the amount depends on your relevant income:

  • 1/72 of your yearly relevant income each month, if that income is 1.5 times the IAS or less (€805.70 a month in 2026);
  • 1/36 of your yearly relevant income each month, if it is higher.

Social Security says you pay monthly if the instalment is at least €51 (half of the court's unit of account, currently €102). Smaller amounts are paid every 3, 6, or 12 months instead. You pay with a payment slip (Documento Único de Cobrança, DUC), which you can get online from the courts' portal or at the court.

Limits that protect you:

  • You can stop paying once you have paid more than four times the initial court fee. In older cases with no initial court fee, you can stop after more than twice the unit of account.
  • Instalments that fall due more than four years after the final decision in your case are not owed.
  • If you have instalments in more than one case, you finish paying one before the next begins.

If you miss an instalment and do not pay it, plus a penalty equal to it, within the extra time you are given, your legal aid can be cancelled.

The March 2026 Constitutional Court ruling

On 17 March 2026, the Constitutional Court ruled with general binding force on part of the means test. It applies where:

  • your available monthly income is about the same as the initial court fee in your case, and
  • paying the monthly instalment would leave your net monthly income below the national minimum wage (€920 a month in 2026).

In that situation, the rules cannot be read to give you only instalments. The court said they breach your constitutional right of access to justice. If Social Security offers you instalments in this situation, point to the Constitutional Court's ruling of 17 March 2026 in your reply at the prior hearing or in a court challenge. Ask for full exemption instead.

How to apply

  1. Gather your documents (see the list below), for you and everyone in your household.
  2. Go to Segurança Social Direta. Log in and choose Ação Social, then Apoios e respostas sociais, then Proteção Jurídica. Online is the normal route. If you have no Social Security number (NISS), or you apply for an organisation, apply in person at any Social Security service desk.
  3. Choose what you need. Online, you can ask for court aid or a legal consultation in one request, not both. To get both, make two requests. On the paper form you can tick both.
  4. Give a reliable postal address. Several deadlines run from letters, so use an address where you will certainly receive post.
  5. Submit the form. Individuals use form PJ 1 and organisations use form PJ 2. A lawyer, trainee lawyer, or solicitor can file for you, or the Public Prosecutor's Office (Ministério Público) can apply on your behalf.

Online, Social Security fills in the income, assets, and household details it already holds. If your household details are wrong, correct them in your Segurança Social Direta profile before you start.

Documents you need

Copies of these, for you and everyone who lives with you:

  • a valid ID document (Citizen Card, passport, or residence permit);
  • your latest IRS tax return and its assessment note, or a certificate from the tax office (Finanças) if you did not file;
  • if you are employed, your payslips for the last 6 months;
  • if you are self-employed, your VAT returns for the last 2 quarters with proof of payment, and the receipts you issued in the last 6 months;
  • proof of any pension or benefit you receive from another country's social security;
  • for property, an up-to-date property tax record (caderneta predial) and a copy of the purchase deed;
  • for shares, proof of their market value on the day before you apply, or the purchase document;
  • for vehicles, the registration documents;
  • if you sit on a company's board or own 10% or more of it, that company's latest tax return, VAT returns for 12 months, accounts for 3 years, and last quarterly balance sheet.

If you are unemployed without benefit, bring a statement from the job centre or a certificate from your parish council (junta de freguesia).

The application, and any certificate or document you request for it, is free of taxes and fees.

When to apply, and how long it takes

Apply early. You must apply before your first step in the court case. If you only run short of money later, apply before your next step after that happens.

Thirty days. Social Security must decide within 30 calendar days. Court holidays do not stop the clock. The clock pauses while you are asked for missing documents.

Silence means yes. If 30 days pass with no decision, your request is treated as granted. Tell the court. The court, or the Bar Association (Ordem dos Advogados) if you need a lawyer appointed, checks with Social Security, which must reply within two working days.

Missing documents. If documents are missing, Social Security writes to you and gives you 10 days (its guide says 10 working days) to send them. If you do not, your request is refused without another letter. If you applied online and chose electronic notices, watch your online inbox.

If Social Security plans to refuse. Before refusing all or part of your request, it must write to you. You then have 10 working days to reply or send what is missing. If you do not reply, the refusal becomes final with no further letter.

If you are refused

You cannot complain to Social Security or appeal to a higher office. You can challenge the decision in court, and the process is simple:

  • You can do it yourself. You do not need a lawyer.
  • You have 15 days from when you learn of the decision.
  • You file it at the Social Security office that decided, not at the court.
  • Write it down, in plain language. Only documents count as evidence. You can ask the court to obtain documents for you.

Social Security then has 10 days to change its decision, or send your challenge to the court. The judge decides with short written reasons, and that decision is final.

The other side in your case can also challenge your legal aid.

Once you have a lawyer

The Bar Association appoints your lawyer. You receive a letter with the lawyer's name and office. You must cooperate with your lawyer, or you can lose the aid.

Your lawyer has 30 days from the appointment to start your court case. The lawyer can ask the Bar for more time. Your case counts as started on the day you asked for a lawyer, which protects you against time limits.

Your lawyer cannot charge you extra. Lawyers working under legal aid may not take any payment beyond what the state pays them.

Changing lawyer. You can ask the Bar Association to replace your lawyer, giving reasons. Your lawyer can also ask to step down. The Bar decides within 15 days and normally appoints a new lawyer at once. It can refuse a new appointment if the reason was that your claim has no legal basis.

Where it applies, and when it ends

Legal aid applies in every court, in the peace courts (julgados de paz), and in administrative fine cases (contraordenações). Once granted, it continues for appeals, whatever the result, and for enforcing the judgment.

It is cancelled if:

  • your household's means improve so that you no longer need it (you must tell Social Security);
  • new documents show it should not have been granted;
  • a court finds your documents were false;
  • an appeal court confirms you acted in bad faith in the case;
  • you miss an instalment and do not pay it with the penalty in time.

It lapses if you die, unless your heirs take over the case and ask for it. It also lapses if a year passes after it was granted without the consultation or the court case, through your own fault.

The state can claim the money back. You may have had enough money when you applied, or gained it during the case or within four years after it ends. If so, the Public Prosecutor's Office can sue you to recover what the state paid. Winning the case counts as gaining money, unless what you won cannot be counted.

This guide is general information, not legal advice on your own case. For help with your application, contact Social Security or ask the lawyer appointed for you.

Sources

This guide is written from official sources and, where relevant, organisations' own websites.

Last verified October 2026. Rules and fees change; check the official source before acting.

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