Strong cost savings !

Currently, to file a case, the judicial officer and therefore his applicant must make an advance payment of scheduling fees varying between 30 euros and 375 euros depending on the court.
This fee must subsequently be recovered from the debtor after the judgement has been rendered.

The Law of 14 October 2018 published in the Belgian Official Journal of 20 December 2018 and which is applicable since the 1st of February 2019 puts an end to this practice.

Since this date, the party who serves a writ of summons must no longer make an advance payment of scheduling fees at the time of filing of the case. These are indeed henceforth payable by the failing party, not earlier than at the end of the trial.

The fees are subsequently recovered by the Public Federal Service of Finance.

In practice, this means a reduction of the overall cost of the summons by 20 to 25 % for the small disputes (less than 2,000 EUR) brought before the Cantonal Court and by 40% to more 50 % for the small disputes brought before the Court of First Instance or the Commercial Court.