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2017 SESSION
17103129DBe it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 17.1-606 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 17.1-606. Persons allowed services without fees or costs.
Any person, who is (i) a plaintiff in a civil
action in a court of the Commonwealth and a resident of this the
Commonwealth or (ii) a defendant in a civil action in a court of the
Commonwealth, and who is on account of his poverty is unable
to pay fees or costs, may be allowed by a court to sue or defend a suit
therein, without paying fees or costs; whereupon he shall have, from any
counsel whom the court may assign him, and from all officers, all needful services
and process, without any fees, except what may be included in the costs
recovered from the opposite party. In determining a person's inability to
pay fees or costs on account of his poverty, the court shall consider the
factors set forth in subsection B of § 19.2-159. [ If the person is
represented by an attorney working for a nonprofit legal aid program organized
under the auspices of the Virginia State Bar or by a private attorney providing
free legal assistance to the person under the auspices of such a program, and
the person's eligibility for such representation is based on the person's
indigency, then such person shall be presumed to be eligible to proceed in the
civil action without paying fees or costs. ]