Progress on reducing court fees

Progress on reducing court fees

The Lawyers of Madrid and its Bar Association recognise the progress made in the reduction of court fees, but despite this, it is still considered insufficient.

The Madrid Bar Association has acknowledged the progress that has been made in relation to the modification of the Law on Court Fees, but continues to consider the measures and changes adopted in the Royal Decree Law by which they are modified as insufficient, considering that it is an obstacle to access to effective judicial protection and maintains a dissuasive effect for all citizens who wish to initiate legal action.

At the last meeting held last February at the Ministry of Justice, which was attended by the Minister of Justice, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, and the Dean of the Bar Association, Sonia Gumpert, accompanied by their teams, the Ministry expressed its willingness to review the fees in view of the undesirable effects that the application of this fee may have, inviting the legal profession to share their experiences and particular cases.

The Madrid Bar Association has asked its lawyers to report any incidents that the exercise of forensic activity reveals and to encourage their clients to sign the form on the website on citizens' waivers of the exercise of actions due to impossibility to pay the fee.

In addition, it is important to provide information on the nature of the case in which the waiver or discontinuation of the action takes place and the amount of the fee in question.

Information should also be provided on the real amount of the fees according to the criteria applied by the different judicial bodies, as well as the practical problems in their quantification and payment.

With all this information, a report can be drawn up detecting the situations in which the application of the Law on Fees generates undesirable effects and the areas of greatest impact.

The Council of Ministers agrees on the modification of court fees

The measures adopted are as follows:

• The variable fee payable by an individual is reduced from 0.5 per cent of the total amount of the claim to 0.10 per cent.
• The approved measures will have an impact of less than 5 percent of the 306 million foreseen in the economic report of the law on fees.
• In contentious-administrative appeals against sanctioning decisions, the fee may not exceed half the amount.
• The amount of the fees in mortgage foreclosure proceedings will be excluded from the sentence for costs, which is usually passed on to the evicted person or their guarantor.
• Claims for non-compliance with consumer awards will be exempt from fees. Mutually agreed divorces will also be exempt.

The Council of Ministers has approved a Royal Decree Law to reform the Law of 20 November 2012 regulating certain fees in the field of the Administration of Justice and the National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Sciences, in order to modulate some of the amounts set in the regulation in accordance with the recommendations expressed by the Ombudsman.

It is estimated that the measures approved will have an impact of less than 5 percent of the 306 million euros foreseen in the report of the Draft Law on Fees approved last November, as it was calculated, fundamentally, with the fixed fee and in most cases this has not been modified.

G.Elias y Muñoz Abogados supports its clients and in order to mitigate the payment of the fees it reduces fees by also financing the procedures.

Source: Madrid Bar Association