Litigation cost estimate for your client

How the calculation works

From your client's position (plaintiff or defendant), the amount at stake, the court, the expected length of the case and your fees, the tool assembles, at the amounts in force on the day of the estimate:

1. Procedural indemnity. The base amount of the bracket, with the minimum and maximum between which the judge may set it (art. 1022 Judicial Code).
2. Docket fee and contribution. The court's docket fee (€50 to €650) and the €26 contribution to the second-line legal aid fund.
3. Bailiff costs (optional). The summons and the service of the judgment under the 2026 tariff: class fee (€131.56, €184.19 or €263.13 depending on the amount), travel (€18.95), file fee for a money claim (€52.63), 21 % VAT and a €50 registration duty per act.
4. Interest. At the legal rate of the day (4.50 % in 2026), on the amount at stake and for the length entered, as simple interest.
5. Your fees. Hours × hourly rate, flat fees, success fee (percentage of the amount obtained or avoided) and, if you tick it, 21 % VAT.
6. Three scenarios. The client's balance if the case is won, lost or settled (percentage of the claim). Costs the client advances and recovers from the losing party are shown separately, outside the balance.

The client document, in PDF or Word, sets out the scenarios, the assumptions and the full method of your fees. You choose its language separately from the language of the site.

Legal basis

• Arts. 1017 and 1018 Judicial Code: the losing party bears the costs, including the cost of judicial acts. Art. 1022 Judicial Code and royal decree of 26 October 2007: the procedural indemnity.
• Registration, Mortgage and Court Fees Code, art. 269/1 (docket fee); law of 19 March 2017, art. 4 (contribution).
• Royal decree of 30 November 1976 (bailiffs' tariff in civil and commercial matters), amended by the royal decree of 18 May 2024 and indexed every 1 January.
• Law of 5 May 1865, art. 2, § 1 (legal interest rate).
• Court of Justice of the European Union, 12 January 2023, C-395/21: the information owed to a consumer client on fees.

Points of attention

• This is an estimate: actual costs depend on how the case unfolds, and recovering the amounts depends on the other party's solvency.
• In a settlement, the plaintiff client bears the docket fee, which falls on the party that enrolled a case struck off the roll.
• The €50 registration duty is the general fixed duty due on every bailiff's exploit and report (Registration Code, arts. 11, al. 3 and 19, al. 1, 1°), recovered as costs (art. 1019 Judicial Code). The estimate always includes it, but acts of the undisputed money-debt procedure are exempt (art. 162, 52°) and, before the justice of the peace, the acts of a claim up to €2,000 may be exempt too (art. 162, 13°). The Chamber's official list (French page) lets you check each item.

What the tool does not do

• It covers one instance: an appeal has its own costs.
• It applies neither legal aid nor exemptions; the court fees tool takes them into account.
• It does not count enforcement costs after service of the judgment, extra addresses or bailiff rules specific to certain matters (fixed classes, the solidarity fund for claims under art. 591, 25°, Judicial Code).
• Saving your fee profile in this browser is a firm feature, free with a verified e-mail address.

Verification

The amounts and rules were checked on 4 October 2026. The tool assists the lawyer, who remains responsible for the calculation and for checking the applicable rule.