Which court has jurisdiction in Belgium: subject, amount and place

The rule in brief

• Special matters first. Family, employment and social security, road accidents, company and insolvency matters, and the list of art. 591 each have their court.
• Between enterprises. The enterprise court, with no amount limit (Judicial Code, art. 573, al. 1).
• Other claims. The justice of the peace up to €5,000 (art. 590), the court of first instance above (art. 568). If the value cannot be determined, the plaintiff chooses (art. 592).
• A non-enterprise suing an enterprise may choose the enterprise court (art. 573, al. 2).
• Appeal. None if the claim does not exceed €2,000 before the justice of the peace or the police court, or €2,500 before the court of first instance or the enterprise court (art. 617). Labour court judgments are always appealable.
• Place. The plaintiff chooses under art. 624, unless a mandatory rule applies.

The competent court tool applies these steps in this order and gives the article for each answer.

Justice of the peace

The justice of the peace (juge de paix / vrederechter) hears claims up to €5,000 (art. 590, al. 1), except those the law gives to another court (arts. 569 to 571, 572bis, 573, 574 and 578 to 583). The amount was raised from €2,500 by the law of 25 May 2018, from 1 September 2018. The King may index it; no indexation decree was found.

Whatever the amount, the justice of the peace hears the matters of art. 591, among others:

• leases of immovable property, occupation without right and eviction (1°);
• co-ownership: use and management of the common parts (2°);
• abnormal neighbour disturbances (2°ter, since 1 September 2021);
• easements, obligations between neighbours and rights of way (3° and 4°);
• possessory actions (5°);
• consumer credit (21°);
• energy, water and electronic-communications bills against a natural person who is not an enterprise and, since 1 October 2024, payment claims of medical and paramedical providers and of schools (25°, completed by the law of 15 May 2024).

These matters stay with the justice of the peace even between enterprises. Art. 591, 15° is repealed from 1 September 2027 (law of 22 July 2026). The justice of the peace also hears protection of adults and other petition matters (art. 594).

Court of first instance and family court

The court of first instance (tribunal de première instance / rechtbank van eerste aanleg) has full jurisdiction (art. 568): every claim not given directly to the court of appeal or the Court of Cassation. In practice its civil chamber hears claims above €5,000 that no other court hears. It also hears the matters of art. 569 (partition, expropriation, notaries' fees and others), enforcement disputes before the attachment judge (juge des saisies / beslagrechter), tax disputes (art. 632) and appeals against the justice of the peace and the police court (art. 577).

Its family court section (tribunal de la famille / familierechtbank) hears the matters of art. 572bis: status of persons, divorce and claims between spouses or legal cohabitants, parental authority, residence and contact, maintenance, matrimonial regimes, successions and partition.

Enterprise court

The enterprise court (tribunal de l'entreprise / ondernemingsrechtbank) hears disputes between enterprises not reserved to another court, with no amount limit (art. 573, al. 1). For a natural person, the act must not be manifestly foreign to the enterprise. An enterprise is defined by Code of Economic Law art. I.1, 1°: natural persons with an independent professional activity, legal persons and some other organisations, public bodies excluded.

A non-enterprise suing an enterprise may choose the enterprise court (art. 573, al. 2); a clause agreed before the dispute cannot take that choice away. Whatever the amount, the enterprise court also hears the matters of art. 574: company and association disputes, insolvency (Code of Economic Law, Book XX), intellectual property and others.

Labour court and police court

The labour court (tribunal du travail / arbeidsrechtbank) hears the matters of arts. 578 to 583: employment contracts, work and commuting accidents, occupational diseases, social security of employees and the self-employed, collective debt settlement, among others. There is no amount limit.

The police court (tribunal de police / politierechtbank) hears claims for damage from road and rail accidents, whatever the amount (art. 601bis).

Value of the claim

• The value 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), as are the claims of several plaintiffs or against several defendants (art. 560).
• If the claim concerns part of a larger disputed debt, the debt counts (art. 559).
• If the value cannot be determined, the plaintiff chooses between the justice of the peace and the court of first instance; the defendant may ask for the case to be sent on when the value is manifestly below or above €5,000 (art. 592).

Appeal thresholds (art. 617)

The amount in the last conclusions counts (art. 618). A claim of undetermined value is appealable (art. 619), and so are tax disputes. A counterclaim arising from the same contract or facts is added (art. 620).

Territorial jurisdiction

As a rule, the plaintiff chooses (art. 624): the defendant's domicile, the place where the obligation arose or is or must be performed, the elected domicile, or the place of service in person when no defendant has a domicile.

Mandatory rules prevail, for example:

• the place where the property lies, for leases and most art. 591 matters (art. 629, 1°);
• the consumer's domicile, for consumer credit (art. 628, 8°);
• the defendant's domicile, for energy, water and telecom bills (art. 628, 25°);
• the place of work, for employment disputes (art. 627, 9°);
• the registered office or main establishment, for company disputes (art. 628, 13°);
• the place of seizure, for attachments (art. 633);
• for insolvency, Code of Economic Law art. XX.12.

An agreement made before the dispute that departs from arts. 627 to 629bis is void (art. 630). Abnormal neighbour disturbances (art. 591, 2°ter) are not listed in art. 629, 1°: the tool applies art. 624 to them.

Incompetence is raised before any other exception or defence (art. 854), unless it is a matter of public order, naming the judge considered competent (art. 855). To find the court of a commune, use the FPS Justice tool, which gives the courts by commune or postcode, for guidance only.

Worked examples

Each case was run through the tool's engine.

A company suing a private person for €7,000 goes to the court of first instance, not the enterprise court: art. 573, al. 1 needs two enterprises. And a lease dispute stays with the justice of the peace whatever the amount, even between two companies.

Run your own case through the competent court tool. The language of the writ is a separate question, covered by the language of proceedings tool and the guide to the language of proceedings.

Common mistakes and limits

• Applying the €5,000 threshold between enterprises. There is none.
• Taking a lease to the court of first instance because of the amount.
• Adding interest during the case or costs to the value. Art. 557 excludes them.
• Raising incompetence after another defence.

The texts were read as consolidated in 2019 with the later amending laws. A sweep of the 2024 to 2026 laws found no change to arts. 590, 573, 574, 617, 628 or 629 besides the art. 591 changes above, but it was not exhaustive: check Justel. The tool does not name the seat or the division, and does not deal with international jurisdiction, criminal cases, jurisdiction clauses or every special competence. It does not classify the dispute for you.

The tool assists the lawyer, who remains responsible for the choice of court and for checking the applicable rule.

Sources

• Judicial Code, arts. 557 to 560, 568 to 574, 577 to 583, 590 to 594, 601bis, 602, 607, 617 to 620, 624 to 633, 854 and 855: text on Justel. Verified on 4 October 2026.
• Law of 25 May 2018 (art. 590, €5,000), law of 15 April 2018 (art. 573) and law of 4 February 2020 (art. 591, 2°ter). Verified on 4 October 2026.
• Law of 15 May 2024 on over-indebtedness, art. 6 (art. 591, 25°); law of 22 July 2026 on Book 7 of the Civil Code (art. 591, 15°), Chamber document 56-0743/009. Verified on 5 October 2026.
• Code of Economic Law, arts. I.1, 1° and XX.12. Verified on 4 October 2026.
• Belgian courts, official page on the justice of the peace (€5,000). Verified on 5 October 2026.
• FPS Justice, territorial jurisdiction tool. Verified on 4 October 2026.