Docket fees and legal aid fund contribution in Belgium

How the calculation works

1. Enrolment date. It determines the applicable regime and amounts, for cases enrolled from 1 January 2008.
2. Docket fee (droit de mise au rôle, rolrecht). It depends on the court. Since 1 February 2019: €50 before the justice of the peace and the police court; €165 before the court of first instance, the family court and the enterprise court; €400 before the court of appeal; €650 before the Court of Cassation. Exempt: social matters before the labour court and the labour court of appeal, criminal cases, tax disputes, insolvency and judicial reorganisation (Book XX of the Code of Economic Law).
3. Before 1 February 2019. The docket fee was paid at enrolment, at a flat amount per court (rôle général): €35, €82, €186 and €325 until 7 July 2012, then €40, €100, €210 and €375 (justice of the peace and police court, first instance and enterprise court, court of appeal, Court of Cassation), again from 1 September 2017 to 31 January 2019. For claims introduced from 1 June 2015 to 31 August 2017, the fee was due per plaintiff, by the value of the claim (law of 28 April 2015, whose effects the Constitutional Court kept in judgment 13/2017): for that period the tool asks for the value of the claim and the number of plaintiffs.
4. Contribution to the second-line legal aid fund. It is due once per originating act enrolled: €26 since 3 March 2025, €24 since 1 October 2022, €22 since 1 December 2021, €20 from 1 May 2017; none before. The tool also applies it on appeal and in cassation. In criminal cases, the judgment orders it against each convicted person.
5. Exemptions from the contribution. It is not due from a plaintiff with second-line legal aid or judicial assistance, nor for a work accident or occupational disease claim, a claim by or against a social insured person (arts. 579, 6°, 580, 581 and 582, 1° and 2°, Judicial Code) or a collective debt settlement (art. 1675/4 Judicial Code).
6. When it is paid. The plaintiff pays the contribution at enrolment; otherwise the case is not enrolled. The docket fee is due at the final judgment (before 1 February 2019, at enrolment): the judge orders it against the losing party or splits it between the parties. Under legal aid, the fee is booked without payment ("en débet").

Legal basis

• Registration, Mortgage and Court Fees Code (Code des droits d'enregistrement, d'hypothèque et de greffe), arts. 269/1 ff. (law of 14 October 2018 and royal decree of 28 January 2019, in force since 1 February 2019); exemptions: art. 279/1. Earlier amounts: programme law of 22 June 2012 (from 8 July 2012) and law of 28 April 2015 (claims introduced from 1 June 2015 to 31 August 2017; Constitutional Court, judgment 13/2017).
• Law of 19 March 2017 creating a budget fund for second-line legal aid, arts. 4 and 5 (in force on 1 May 2017).
• Tariffs of the Belgian courts (French page).

Points of attention

• Late payment. Since 1 February 2019, an unpaid docket fee carries a fine of half the fee, at least €25 and at most €325: €82.50 for a €165 fee.
• Family court. A new or additional petition on urgent matters in an existing family file pays no new fee (art. 1253ter/4, § 2, Judicial Code). The fee is still due on appeal.
• Strike-off and re-enrolment. If the case is struck off or omitted from the roll, the party that enrolled it pays the fee. Re-enrolment gives rise to a new fee.
• Appeal. First-instance fees ordered against the appellant must be paid before the appeal is set down, except in urgency or force majeure.
• Recovery. The judge includes the contribution in the costs: the losing party reimburses it, unless it has legal aid.

What the tool does not do

• It does not cover cases enrolled before 1 January 2008. Before 1 February 2019, it covers only civil cases before the ordinary courts: the exemptions of that period were not verified.
• It applies the main exemptions of art. 279/1 and treats every case before the labour courts as an exempt social matter.
• It does not compute the contribution due before the Council of State and the Council for Alien Law Litigation.
• The start dates of the €24 and €26 contribution rest on concordant secondary sources, not on the Belgian Official Gazette.

Verification

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