LAO reintroducing merit consideration for Consent and Capacity Board appeals

Published: November 6, 2017

Legal Aid Ontario’s Mental Health Appeals program will once again consider merit for Consent and Capacity (CCB) appeals, beginning November 20, 2017. Appeals with little or no merit will no longer be funded.

The new merit assessment test will include a mandatory stage, requiring area committees to consider reasonable likelihood of success of appeals based on the strength of legal arguments put forward by counsel in opinion letters. The test will now also have a lower threshold than the one that was used before 2014. Please refer to the Modified merit test for Consent and Capacity Board appeals for complete details.

Legal Aid Ontario will continue to process appeals efficiently and effectively so that the addition of the new merit test does not cause unnecessary delays.

A CCB appeal guide to support area committees and panel lawyers in their assessment of merit is also being developed.

How to apply for CCB appeal funding

Submit opinion letters to local district offices for area committees to review.

For further information

Contact genmenhealth@lao.on.ca.