Swiss Civil Procedure Code
(Civil Procedure Code, CPC)

¹ The ap­plic­a­tion for leg­al aid may be made be­fore or after an ac­tion be­comes pending.

² The ap­plic­ant must dis­close his or her fin­an­cial cir­cum­stances in­clud­ing in­come and as­sets and state his or her po­s­i­tion on the mer­its of the case and the evid­ence he or she in­tends to pro­duce. He or she may name a pre­ferred leg­al agent in the ap­plic­a­tion.

³ The court shall de­cide on the ap­plic­a­tion in sum­mary pro­ceed­ings. The op­pos­ing party may be heard, and must be heard if leg­al aid is to cov­er se­cur­ity for party costs.

⁴ In ex­cep­tion­al cir­cum­stances, leg­al aid may be gran­ted with ret­ro­spect­ive ef­fect.

⁵ A new ap­plic­a­tion for leg­al aid must be made in ap­pel­late pro­ceed­ings.

⁶ No court costs are charged for pro­ceed­ings re­lat­ing to the grant­ing of leg­al aid, ex­cept in cases of bad faith or vex­a­tious con­duct.