Competent court by subject, amount and place

How the tool works

You choose the subject of the dispute, state whether the plaintiff and the defendant are enterprises and enter the value of the claim (leave it empty if it cannot be determined). The tool first applies the special competences (family, employment, traffic accidents, arts. 574 and 591), then the rule for enterprises, then the civil route by amount.

It gives:

• the competent court, or the courts the plaintiff may choose from;
• whether an appeal lies under art. 617, and before which court;
• the territorial rule, with a link to the FPS Justice tool to find the courts of a commune.

Legal basis (Judicial Code)

• Justice of the peace: claims up to €5,000 (art. 590, since 1 September 2018), except those the law gives to another court. Whatever the amount, the matters of art. 591, including leases of immovable property, co-ownership, abnormal neighbour disturbances, easements, possessory actions, consumer credit and energy, water or electronic-communications bills against a natural person who is not an enterprise, extended since 1 October 2024 to payment claims of medical and paramedical providers and of schools (art. 591, 25°, law of 15 May 2024). Art. 591, 15° is repealed from 1 September 2027 (Book 7 of the Civil Code, law of 22 July 2026).
• Enterprise court: disputes between enterprises, with no amount limit (art. 573, al. 1); at the choice of a non-enterprise suing an enterprise (art. 573, al. 2); the matters of art. 574 (companies, insolvency, intellectual property, etc.).
• Court of first instance: full jurisdiction (art. 568). Its family court section hears the matters of art. 572bis.
• Labour court: arts. 578 to 583, including collective debt settlement, with no amount limit.
• Police court: road and rail accidents, whatever the amount (art. 601bis).
• Value that cannot be determined: the plaintiff chooses (art. 592).
• Appeal (art. 617): no appeal if the claim does not exceed €2,000 before the justice of the peace and the police court, or €2,500 before the court of first instance and the enterprise court. Judgments of the labour court, and judgments on a claim of undetermined value (art. 619), are always appealable.
• Territory: the plaintiff's choice under art. 624, save mandatory rules (arts. 627 to 629bis, 632, 633; CEL art. XX.12 for insolvency).

Points of attention

• The value of the claim is the amount claimed in the originating act, without interest during the case, costs or penalty payments (art. 557). Several heads of claim are added together (art. 558).
• Between enterprises there is no threshold: a €3,000 dispute also goes to the enterprise court. Art. 591 matters, such as leases, stay with the justice of the peace.
• An agreement made before the dispute that departs from arts. 627 to 629bis is void (art. 630).
• Incompetence is raised before any other exception (art. 854), unless it is a matter of public order, naming the competent judge (art. 855).
• The King may index the art. 590 amount; no indexation decree was found.
• Texts read as consolidated in 2019 with the later amending laws. A sweep of the 2024 to 2026 laws found no other change to arts. 590, 573, 574, 617, 628 and 629: check the current wording on Justel.

What the tool does not do

• It does not name the seat or the division: the FPS Justice tool does so from the commune or postcode, for guidance only.
• It does not deal with international jurisdiction, criminal cases or jurisdiction clauses.
• It does not include every special competence of the Judicial Code, and it does not classify the dispute for you.

Verification and responsibility

The rules were checked on 5 October 2026. The tool assists the lawyer, who remains responsible for the choice of court and for checking the applicable rule.