How much court cases in Poland cost?

Defending our rights in court entails appropriate costs. The basic expense is the court fee, which is charged on the letter initiating the proceedings (for ex. lawsuit). A condition for the successful submission of a letter is the payment of such a fee. The amount of the fee depends on the type of proceedings, as specified in the regulations. I will show you how the basic fees are formed on the examples of the most popular proceedings.

In civil proceedings, a court fee may be fixed or relative. It means that we have to pay a fixed amount from the submission of a specific type of letter or the amount of the fee will depend on the value of the object of the dispute. For example, a fixed fee is charged on claims for: divorce, protection of personal rights, protection of non-economic copyrights (PLN 600, approx. 140 euro). Fixed fee may not be lower than PLN 30 and not higher than PLN 5000. The relative fee is collected in property rights cases; it amounts to 5% of the value of the subject matter of the dispute or the object of the appeal, but not less than PLN 30 and not more than PLN 100,000. So, in the event of a claim for damages of EUR 10.000 we are obliged to pay a court fee of EUR 500. The payment of an appropriate fee is necessary for the court to hear our case.

There is also a temporary fee, which is payable in property rights cases where  value of the subject-matter of the dispute cannot be determined at the beginning of the trial. The amount of the temporary fee is set between PLN 30 and PLN 1000 (in group proceedings between PLN 100 and PLN 10,000).

The court fee shall be paid in Polish currency to the bank account of the competent court. The end of the fee shall be rounded up to the nearest whole amount.

In certain civil matters, the participation of an expert witness may be necessary. In such a case, the court shall order the claimant to pay the appropriate remuneration to the court expert. The average cost to be borne by the party on account of the expert is about 500 euro but it can also be more depending on the case.

In matters relating to commercial law, fixed fees apply. For example, in matters concerning internal activities of the company (dissolution of the company, repeal of a resolution), a fee of EUR 500  is charged. Fixed fees apply also in National Court Register cases (registration of the company, removal of the entity from the register, change of data in the register).

In conclusion, it should be pointed out that most acts in court require payment of a fee. Their amount is determined by the provisions of the Act on Court Costs, which could be problematic to establish. Don’t hesitate to contact a professional attorney, as you must remember that if you pay the fee correctly, you will be able to keep your case in court.