From Norway to another country – lawyer abroad

If your child has been abducted and you need support with foreign legal fees, you must first find out what kind of support is available in the country to which the child has been abducted.

Most European countries have a legal aid scheme and the Ministry of Justice and Public Security can assist with queries and sending applications for legal aid to the relevant countries.

If the relevant country does not have a legal aid scheme, or processing times for applications are unreasonably long, you may apply for legal aid in Norway. Your application must be sent to the County Governor of Oslo and Akershus.

Application form for legal aid in Norway

County Governor of Oslo and Viken and the Norwegian Civil Affairs Authority will be able to answer any queries you may have regarding free legal aid in child abduction cases.

Conditions for reimbursement of legal fees under the Norwegian legal aid scheme

• The applicant must satisfy the financial conditions for free legal aid. In cases where particularly extensive assistance is needed, exceptions from the income and asset limits may be granted.
• There must be an actual child abduction under the Child Abduction Convention. You can read more about this under What is an international parental child abduction and under To or from Norway to a signatory state – the Hague Convention.
  
  If the child has been abducted to a non-convention country, free legal aid may sometimes still be granted.
• It must not be unreasonable for the assistance to be paid from public funds.

If you have been granted free legal aid, you may also apply for reimbursement of certain necessary expenses in connection with the child abduction case, such as expenses in connection with translation of documents and in special cases, travel and accommodation expenses in connection with attending court hearings abroad.

The costs of hiring a private investigator or of having a Norwegian lawyer investigate re not covered.