Higher Court Fees in Civil Cases
On August 21st, 2019, the amendment of the Act on Court Fees in Civil cases, introducing new, higher fees, came into force. Below I present selected changes.
Fixed Court Fee
Fixed fee should be paid in the non-property right cases and some property cases specified in the act (irrespective of the dispute value). Currently, the fixed fee cannot be lower than PLN 30 and higher than PLN 10,000 (previously it was between PLN 30 and PLN 5,000).
Fee in Property Right Cases
The way of calculating the fee in the property right cases had been entirely changed. Previously the rule was easy – 5% of the value of the dispute, but no less than PLN 30 and no more than PLN 100,000. In the amendment the thresholds of the dispute value determining the amount of the court fee, were introduced:
- the value of the dispute up to PLN 500 – the court fee in the amount of PLN 30;
- the value of the dispute between PLN 500 and PLN 1,500 – the court fee in the amount of PLN 100;
- the value of the dispute between PLN 1,500 and PLN 4,000 – the court fee in the amount of PLN 200;
- the value of the dispute between PLN 4,000 and PLN 7,500 – the court fee in the amount of PLN 400;
- the value of the dispute between PLN 10,000 and PLN 15,000 – the court fee in the amount of PLN 750;
- the value of the dispute between PLN 15,000 and PLN 20,000 – the court fee in the amount of PLN 1,000;
- the value of the dispute over PLN 20,000 – the court fee in the amount of 5% of the dispute value but no more than PLN 200,000.
Additionally, the separate regulation governing the simplified proceedings, was removed.
Temporary Court Fee
In the property right case in which the value of the dispute cannot be determined at the moment of the proceedings commencement, the presiding judge determines the temporary court fee. Before the amendment that fee was determined between PLN 30 and PLN 1,000. Currently the limit was moved to PLN 2,000.
Application for Summons to Conciliation Hearing
The application for a summons to a conciliation hearing is also much more expensive. Previously the fee was PLN 30 when the value of the dispute did not exceed PLN 10,000 and PLN 300 when the value of the dispute exceeded PLN 10,000. Currently it is 1/5 of the court fee for the suit, which in case of claims for high amounts, constitutes huge increase of the court fee.
Fees in Real Estate Register Proceedings
In case of real estate register proceedings it is also more expensive – for example the fee for the application to establish land and mortgage register for the real estate, increased from PLN 60 to PLN 100.
Fees in Inheritance Proceedings
Fees for the following applications in the inheritance proceedings were doubled, from PLN 50 to PLN 100: petition for ascertainment of acquisition of the estate of the deceased person, petition to secure the inheritance, petition for the inventor of the inheritance, request for assurance of inheritance testimony.
Fee for Delivery of Judgment with Statement of Reasons
Before the amendment it was possible to receive the judgment with statement of reasons for free. Since August 21st, 2019, such petition costs PLN 100.
Office Fees
The amount of some office fees also changed. For the certified copy of the judgment, now you have to pay PLN 20 for each 10 pages (before it was PLN 6 per each page), and for the copy of the document form the files – PLN 20 for each 10 pages (before it was PLN 1 for each page).
It is More Expensive
There are more changes in the amount of the fees paid in the courts. Above I indicated only some of them. However, all of them have something in common – they were raised. Since August 21st, 2019, proceedings before the civil court is more expensive for the plaintiff (and in the event of win – for the defendant). In some situations, the increase was really high – especially in the cases of the dispute value exceeding two million PLN.
