Litigation costs in Belgium: who pays what

The rule in brief

• The losing party bears the costs (art. 1017 Judicial Code), including the cost of judicial acts (art. 1018, 2°).
• It also pays the winner a procedural indemnity, set between a minimum and a maximum by value of the claim (art. 1022 Judicial Code).
• The docket fee is due at the final judgment; the €26 legal aid fund contribution is paid at enrolment.
• Bailiff costs follow the 2026 tariff: a class fee of €131.56, €184.19 or €263.13, plus travel, file fee, VAT and a €50 registration duty per act (none before the justice of the peace for a claim of €2,000 or less, nor before the labour courts).
• A consumer client is owed information on how your fees are calculated (CJEU, C-395/21).

The client cost estimate applies these rules and builds three scenarios: case won, lost or settled.

Who pays: the losing party

Under art. 1017 Judicial Code, the costs (dépens / gerechtskosten) fall on the losing party: the other side's procedural indemnity, the docket fee, the contribution and the bailiff's acts (art. 1018, 2°), on top of its own lawyer's fees. A client who wins recovers what it advanced and receives the indemnity, but still pays its own lawyer. VAT is not charged to the loser when the winner deducts it (Constitutional Court, judgment 88/2018).

The procedural indemnity

Amounts by value of the claim

The procedural indemnity (indemnité de procédure / rechtsplegingsvergoeding) rests on art. 1022 Judicial Code and the royal decree of 26 October 2007. The value of the claim is the amount of the originating act or of the last conclusions; a maintenance claim is worth one annuity, 12 monthly instalments (RD art. 2, last paragraph). Extract from the table of 1 March 2025:

Indexation

Each amount is the reference amount × the new consumer price index ÷ the March 2007 index (105.78), rounded to the cent (RD art. 8, as replaced on 16 May 2024). The current table rests on the February 2025 index (166.05); it changes when the index moves at least 10 points from the last indexation. The table in force on the day of the decision applies: the reference amounts from 1 January 2008, then × 1.1 from 1 March 2011, × 1.2 from 1 June 2016, × 1.3 from 1 June 2021, × 1.4 from 1 April 2022 and × 1.5 from 1 November 2022 to 28 February 2025.

The judge's margin and special cases

• The judge may move within the range for the loser's means (to reduce only), the complexity of the case, contractual indemnities or a manifestly unreasonable situation.
• The minimum applies when the losing party has second-line legal aid, unless that is manifestly unreasonable (art. 1022 Judicial Code), and in the summary order-for-payment procedure (RD art. 5).
• Several winners against the same loser receive together at most twice the highest maximum.
• Proceedings to obtain judicial assistance give rise to no indemnity (RD art. 7).
• The labour scale (RD art. 4) covers only proceedings under arts. 579 and 1017, para. 2, Judicial Code. Employment contract disputes follow the general table.

The procedural indemnity calculator gives the full table.

Docket fee and legal aid fund contribution

The docket fee (droit de mise au rôle / rolrecht) follows art. 269/1 and following of the Registration, Mortgage and Court Fees Code, for cases enrolled since 1 February 2019:

• Due at the final judgment (before 1 February 2019, at enrolment): the judge orders it against the losing party or splits it.
• Case struck off the roll: the party that enrolled it pays.
• Late payment: a fine of half the fee, at least €25 and at most €325.
• Exempt (art. 279/1): criminal cases, tax disputes, insolvency and judicial reorganisation, social matters of the labour courts (art. 279/1, 1° with art. 162, 33°bis to 37°bis), including a cassation appeal against a labour court decision. Under legal aid, the fee is booked "en débet", without payment.

Before 1 February 2019, the party enrolling the case paid a flat fee per court (rôle général), once per cause: €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). The procedures of art. 162, 13° Registration Code paid a reduced fee of €25, then €30; social matters were exempt. Claims introduced from 1 June 2015 to 31 August 2017 paid a fee per plaintiff, by the value of the claim (law of 28 April 2015; Constitutional Court, judgment 13/2017). The court fees calculator covers cases enrolled from 1 January 2008.

The contribution to the second-line legal aid fund (law of 19 March 2017, art. 4; indexed under art. 5) is €26 per originating act since 3 March 2025 (€20 from 1 May 2017, €22 from 1 December 2021, €24 from 1 October 2022). Without it, the case is not enrolled. One contribution is due per act, even with several plaintiffs (Constitutional Court, judgment 22/2020), and appeals and cassation appeals are subject to it (Court of Cassation, 2022 annual report). Exempt, among others: a plaintiff with legal aid or judicial assistance, work accident and occupational disease claims, social security claims (arts. 579, 6°, 580, 581 and 582, 1° and 2°, Judicial Code) and collective debt settlement (the debtor's request and, since 17 August 2020, the debtor's appeal; law of 31 July 2020, art. 45). The court fees calculator applies them.

Bailiff costs under the 2026 tariff

The tariff is the royal decree of 30 November 1976, amended by the royal decree of 18 May 2024: base amounts for acts from 1 October 2024, indexed every 1 January since 2025. The class fee (art. 6) follows the claim: in 2026, class A up to €2,105.03 (€131.56), class B up to €5,262.57 (€184.19), class C above that or for an undetermined value (€263.13); the official tables index the bands too. Claims under art. 591, 25° Judicial Code (energy, water, telecoms and, since 1 October 2024, medical, paramedical and school bills) are always class A. On top come travel (€18.95 per act served on site, art. 15, 2°), the file fee for recovering a sum of money (€52.63, once per file, art. 8/1) and 21 % VAT.

The €50 registration duty is the general fixed duty of the Registration Code (art. 11, al. 3, €50 since 1 July 2013), due on every bailiff's exploit and report (art. 19, al. 1, 1°), outside VAT. The creditor advances it and recovers it as costs (art. 1019 Judicial Code). It is not due on a formal notice letter, and one duty is due per exploit, whatever the number of addresses (art. 15, al. 2).

Art. 162 Registration Code exempts from it:

• before the justice of the peace, the acts of a claim of €2,000 or less (principal and accessories, without interest and costs) and enforcement based on that judgment, except sale reports (13° and art. 163);
• labour court matters (33°bis);
• collective debt settlement (46°);
• in the undisputed money-debt procedure, only the summons to pay and the record of non-contestation (52°).

The €2,000 threshold is the last-resort amount of the justice of the peace (art. 617 Judicial Code) and is not indexed. With legal aid, the duty is registered "en débet" and not advanced (art. 160, 1°). The bailiff costs calculator itemises each act.

Informing the client about costs and fees

The Court of Justice of the European Union (12 January 2023, C-395/21) recalled that a lawyer owes a consumer client information on fees and on how they are calculated. The estimate tool prints a client document (English, French, Dutch or German) with the costs above, legal interest and your fee method: hours × hourly rate, flat fees, success fee, 21 % VAT.

Worked examples

A €12,500 claim before the court of first instance

Plaintiff; estimate on 5 October 2026, 12 months, 10 hours at €150 plus VAT, settlement at 50 %, summons and service by a bailiff.

• Won: €12,500 + €562.50 + €1,726.74 − €1,815 = €12,974.24. The €872.32 advanced (contribution and two bailiff acts) is recovered from the losing party.
• Lost: €1,726.74 + €1,815 + €165 + €26 + €455 = €4,187.74 to pay.
• Settled at 50 %: €6,250 − €1,815 − €165 − €26 − €455 = €3,789.00.

As defendant, the same client would still pay €88.26 on winning, and €17,641.56 on losing.

A €1,500 claim before the justice of the peace

Plaintiff, 6 months, 4 hours at €120 plus VAT, settlement at 50 %. Indemnity €313.95 / €627.91 / €1,569.77; docket fee €50; summons (class A) €245.80 with VAT, without registration duty (art. 162, 13°: the claim is €2,000 or less); service €182.12; interest €33.75; fees €580.80.

• Won: €1,580.86, plus €453.92 advanced and recovered.
• Lost: €1,530.51 to pay, more than the claim itself.
• Settled at 50 %: −€152.60: the €750 received does not cover the costs already incurred.

Run your own figures with the client cost estimate. See also the guides on late-payment interest and wage garnishment.

Common mistakes and open points

• Quoting the base as a certainty. Show the client the judge's range.
• Using today's table for an old decision. The table of the day of the decision applies.
• Small claims before the justice of the peace. Acts in proceedings whose main claim does not exceed €2,000, as in the €1,500 example, are exempt from the registration duty (art. 162, 13° Registration Code); a claim of undetermined value is not. The €2,000 threshold is not the class A band of the bailiffs' tariff (€2,105.03 in 2026), which is indexed.
• Next indexation. Art. 8 read literally gives a threshold of 176.05; the earlier 10-point series, 175.78. The September 2026 index (172.93) is below both.
• One instance only. An appeal has its own costs. The estimate applies no legal aid and, of the registration duty exemptions, only those before the justice of the peace and the labour courts.

The tools assist the lawyer, who remains responsible for the calculation and for checking the applicable rule.

Sources

• Judicial Code, arts. 579 to 582, 591 and 617: Part III on Justel; arts. 1017 to 1019 and 1022: Part IV on Justel. Verified on 6 October 2026.
• Royal decree of 26 October 2007, arts. 2 to 5, 7 and 8 (art. 8 replaced by the royal decree of 16 May 2024): table at 1 March 2025 and table at 1 November 2022. Verified on 5 October 2026.
• Registration, Mortgage and Court Fees Code, arts. 11, 15, 19, 160, 162, 163, 269/1 and following and 279/1: art. 162 on Fisconet (French), tariffs of the Belgian courts, docket fee brochure and e-Justice portal, costs in Belgium. Verified on 6 October 2026.
• Programme law of 22 June 2012 (docket fees from 8 July 2012), law of 28 April 2015 (value-based docket fee) and Constitutional Court, judgment 13/2017. Verified on 5 October 2026.
• Law of 19 March 2017, arts. 4 and 5: FPS Justice; law of 31 July 2020, art. 45; Court of Cassation, 2022 annual report, study on judicial assistance (French); Constitutional Court, judgment 22/2020. Verified on 6 October 2026.
• Royal decree of 30 November 1976, amended by the royal decree of 18 May 2024, arts. 5, 6, 8/1 and 15: 2026 tariff of the National Chamber of Bailiffs and Tarif checker; Constitutional Court, judgment 88/2018. Verified on 5 October 2026.
• Court of Justice of the European Union, 12 January 2023, C-395/21. Verified on 4 October 2026.