Court fee (retsafgift)
Also known as court fee, court charge, domstolsafgift, afgift til retten
The court fee is the fee paid to the courts for hearing a case — and it can be claimed back from the debtor.
Key facts
- Paid by
- The creditor — up front
- Recoverable from
- The debtor
In practice
The court fee is laid out by the creditor and then claimed back from the debtor together with the principal. It depends on the size of the claim and on the route the case takes.
For a creditor, the calculation that matters is not the size of the fee in itself, but the relationship between the fee and the likelihood of getting the money. On a claim of 4.000 kr. against a debtor with no assets, the costs of the case can exceed the claim — and then the right decision is monitoring, not the bailiff’s court.
Where it commonly goes wrong
- Treating the fee as an expense the debtor pays. They only do so if there is money. Otherwise it stays with you.
- A case is filed without working out whether the fee can be recovered. On small claims the fee and the work can exceed what is there to collect.
- The fee is paid and the case is not pursued. A court fee on a case nobody drives forward is money out the window.