How much can the costs of a court case come to?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

There is no fixed figure, because the costs depend on what the winning party has paid their lawyer, their court agent (“procurador”) and their experts. But the law caps what is paid for the other side's lawyer and experts, which cannot exceed one third of the value of the case for each winning party, unless the judge declares that the losing party acted with recklessness (“temeridad”). On top of that come the court agent's fees, which follow an official scale, VAT and other expenses, such as any court fee paid by a company. The exact figure is set by the court clerk (“letrado de la Administración de Justicia”) in the assessment of costs. The one-third cap The value of the case is the economic value the law gives to the proceedings, which in a money claim is the amount claimed. The cap applies to the combined fees of the lawyer and of the other professionals who have no official scale of fees, such as experts. Some examples: In a case worth 30.000 euros, the losing party does not pay more than 10.000 euros under those heads. If you sued two people and both win, each of them can recover up to 10.000 euros from you, 20.000 in total. If what is being sought cannot be valued in money, for these purposes it is valued at 24.000 euros, so the cap is 8.000, unless the judge sets a different figure because of the complexity of the matter. That is the figure for cases started on or after 3 April 2025. For earlier cases it was 18.000 euros. The cap does not apply if the judge declares the losing party reckless, which means litigating in the knowledge that one is in the wrong. Nor does it limit what each party agrees with their own lawyer. It only limits what can be recovered from the other side. If there is an appeal, the costs of the appeal are decided separately. What is added on top of the cap Other items that also form part of the costs fall outside the cap: The court agent's fees, which are calculated using the scale of fees approved by the Spanish Government. VAT on the lawyer's and the court agent's fees. The law includes it in the costs, but does not count it when calculating the cap. Some courts exclude it when the winning party is a business or a professional who can deduct it. Any court fee paid by a company and other expenses of the proceedings, such as copies and certificates that had to be requested or the deposits required to appeal. How the figure is set Once the judgment is final, the winning party submits the itemised bills of fees of their lawyer and their experts and their court agent's account. The court clerk, the official who runs the court office, carries out the assessment of costs, which is the calculation of what has to be paid. The clerk leaves out any items that are not broken down or that relate to unnecessary pleadings and reduces anything above the cap. The parties have ten days to challenge it, for example if they consider the fees excessive. If it is argued that the lawyer's fees are excessive and the lawyer does not agree to reduce them, the court asks the Bar Association (“colegio de la abogacía”) for a report. The law only allows the Bar Associations to draw up guideline fee criteria for assessing costs and for the “jura de cuentas”, which is the procedure by which a lawyer claims their fees from their own client. Those criteria provide guidance, but they do not bind the court.