Romanian Lawyer Office. Our fees.
Costs for litigation in Romania
Taking a case to court in Romania involves certain costs.
The main costs for the creditor are lawyer fees, court taxes and translation fees. In case of enforcing a court order against a debtor located in Romania, the creditor will have to pay in advance the Romanian civil court enforcer’s fee.
Any and all legal costs, such as court fees, enforcement fees, posting fees and such are borne by the client and are not included in the lawyer fees. Such costs can be directly invoiced to the client. If the client is unable to pay the costs directly (might be the case of court taxes), our office can pay the court tax for the client and invoice the amount of the court tax in advance.
General information about lawyer fees
For our services, in accordance with Romanian Law, Andrei Mihnea Gane Law Office charges lawyer fees in Romanian Lei (RON), Euro or USD. Lawyer fees are agreed upon in advance with our client, by signing a Legal Assistance Contract, as regulated under Romania Law no. 51 per 1995 for the organization and practice of the lawyer profession. The Legal Assistance Contract gives us power of attorney, the power to represent you before Romanian courts of law or authorities.
As opposed to other jurisdictions, there is no legal text regulating the maximum or the minimum amount a Romanian lawyer and their client can agree upon for providing legal services. Our fees (and lawyer fees, in general) are the strict result of either negotiation of both parties or the acceptance of our contractual offer by our client.
VAT of 19%
Our law office pays Value Added Tax (VAT) of 19%, according to Romanian Fiscal Regulations. All prices established herein or through the Legal Assistance Contract or invoiced to you have a Value Added Tax (VAT) of 19%. After signing a Legal Assistance Contract, we issue our client an invoice with the agreed amount + 19% VAT. Our fees need to paid by our clients in advance, through bank transfer.
Evaluating lawyer fees
As a general rule, please bear in mind that lawyer fees are agreed upon with the client based on the evaluated complexity of the case, estimated scope of work and value of the claim. After initial evaluation of your case, we issue our lawyer fee offer.
As opposed to simplified procedures, for cases tried under the general/common procedure, the court administrates all means of proof. As such, the difficulty and duration of the case varies and are not proportionate to the value of the claim. A low value claim tried under general procedural rules might necessitate high effort, depending on the circumstances of the case.
As such, we cannot establish an all-applicable price grid for all possible cases. We need to first evaluate your case to determine our fee and court costs. Please feel free to contact us. We can either set up a meeting or you can write us your case, so that we may evaluate it and get back to you with our fee proposition.
Recovery of legal fees
As is the case in most jurisdictions, the losing party is held to pay court fees. Should the claimant/creditor win the case and be granted the requested claim, the Romanian debtor will be held to cover all legal expenses, including lawyer fees and court taxes paid by the claimant.
To hold the losing debtor to pay court taxes and lawyer fees, the payment of the lawyer’s fee must have been performed prior to the final hearing, otherwise the court will not grant these expenses.
Disclaimer on recovery of legal fees
Please bear in mind the following:
- The Romanian court decides through court order the amount of money granted to the winning party which represents legal fees.
- The Romanian court is able to diminish the amount the winning party requests as legal fees, should the judge appreciate that the lawyer’s fee is reasonably disproportionate in comparison to the value of the claim or the effort put in by the winning party.
- As opposed to other jurisdictions (such as Germany), there is no law regulating the maximum or the minimum amount of lawyer’s fees. As such, the amount representing legal fees is granted based solely on the judge’s evaluation.
- The Romanian court does not usually diminish the amount requested by the party which represents lawyer fees.
- Success fees are not supported by the losing party.
Fees for enforcing court decisions
After obtaining a court order (or after recognition of a foreign court order), the creditor may enforce the court order against the debtor who is unwilling to fulfil their obligations. Enforcement of a court order is performed with the help of a Romanian civil enforcer.
In case of enforcing a Romanian court order against the debtor, the creditor:
- can be assisted by a lawyer, in which case they will have to pay a lawyer’s fee ;
- must pay in advance the civil enforcer’s fee (usually a part of it), which varies depending on the value of the claim granted through court order;
- must also pay a 20 lei court tax for the competent court to give the civil enforcer power to enforce the court order by any means necessary.
All fees paid in the civil enforcement procedure will be recovered from the debtor, if they are solvable.
Also see:
Romanian Lawyer Office. Simplified procedure of debt recovery in Romania
The creditor may opt for a judgement under a simplified procedure and significantly lower court costs. Find out more in the following article!
Recognition of Foreign, Non-EU Court Orders in Romania. Exequatur Procedure
Article about the recognition and enforcement procedure for a foreign court order in Romania
European Union Member State Court Order Recognition in Romania
Article about the recognition and enforcement procedure in Romania for a court order issued by a court of a European Union member state
Romanian Lawyer Office. Simplified procedure of debt recovery in Romania
The creditor may opt for a judgement under a simplified procedure and significantly lower court costs. Find out more in the following article!
Recognition of Foreign, Non-EU Court Orders in Romania. Exequatur Procedure
Article about the recognition and enforcement procedure for a foreign court order in Romania
European Union Member State Court Order Recognition in Romania
Article about the recognition and enforcement procedure in Romania for a court order issued by a court of a European Union member state
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About Us
Mr. Andrei-Mihnea Gane, Managing Partner
We understand how difficult it is for our clients to find legal professionals they can entrust their case to outside their country’s jurisdiction. We aim to offer professional, high quality legal services to clients from outside Romania and build durable relations based on trust and transparency.
We are authorised under law to practice by the National Bar Union of Romania. We’ve assisted hundreds of clients in civil cases before Romanian Courts of law over the years, many of which have been international clients. We invite you to read the articles posted on our website, articles in which we’ve attached examples of court orders from our practice.
About Us
Mr. Andrei-Mihnea Gane, Managing Partner
We understand how difficult it is for our clients to find legal professionals they can entrust their case to outside their country’s jurisdiction. We aim to offer professional, high quality legal services to clients from outside Romania and build durable relations based on trust and transparency.
We are authorised under law to practice by the National Bar Union of Romania. We’ve assisted hundreds of clients in civil cases before Romanian Courts of law over the years, many of which have been international clients. We invite you to read the articles posted on our website, articles in which we’ve attached examples of court orders from our practice.
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