Short answer. Yes. The Act addresses this situation by name: lack of access to family or conjugal resources by the applicant, such as when those resources are controlled by the perpetrator, qualifies the petitioner for legal representation by the Public Attorney's Office.
What the law says
The lack of access to family or conjugal resources by the applicant, such as when the same are controlled by the perpetrator, shall qualify the petitioner to legal representation by the PAO.
RA 9262, Section 13 — Legal Representation Of Petitioners. Read the full provision →
The sentence turns on access, not ownership
An ordinary means test asks what a household is worth, and that measure breaks down in precisely the situation you describe: the money is there on paper, and none of it is reachable by the person who needs a lawyer. The Act does not leave that to be argued from general principles. It states the qualifying condition as lack of access to family or conjugal resources, and gives control by the perpetrator as an example of it. Your share of an asset you cannot touch is not means you have.
Why the wording says “such as”
Control by the perpetrator is offered as an instance, not as the only way the condition is met. What has to be shown is that the resources are not accessible to you — which can also be the position where accounts are in another name, where documents are held elsewhere, or where drawing on the money would itself expose you. The provision is written around the reality that financial control and abuse often travel together, and it does not require you to prove poverty in order to be represented.
Where to say it
In the application. The request for counsel is a field on the standard form, and it asks for the reasons as well as the request, so this is the place to set out that the resources exist but are outside your control rather than to describe yourself as having nothing. On such a request the court is directed to immediately have the Public Attorney's Office represent you at the hearing on the application. Be ready to explain concretely what you cannot reach and why, because that is the point in issue.
If the assessment goes the other way
PAO makes its own determination, and where it concludes that an applicant can afford a counsel de parte the Act directs it to facilitate representation by one rather than to leave the applicant unrepresented. A private lawyer acting without charge is also not barred from appearing for you. And the Act separately lists among a victim's rights the ability to avail of legal assistance from PAO or any public legal assistance office, so more than one door exists here.
Related provisions
- RA 9262, Section 11 — How To Apply
- RA 9262, Section 35 — Rights Of Victims
- RA 9262, Section 20 — Priority Of Applications