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Informing the client about fees

What a lawyer must tell the client about fees before the client commits, above all when the client is a consumer, and how to record it in an engagement letter and a fee-information sheet.

Updated on 7 October 2026

Engagement letter and fee information
On this page
  1. In short
  2. What the client must know before signing
  3. Hourly rates after judgment C-395/21
  4. Result fees, costs, disbursements and VAT
  5. Provisions, statements and late payment
  6. Away from the office or at a distance: withdrawal
  7. Complaints and fee disputes
  8. Common mistakes and open points
  9. Sources

In short

  • A lawyer sets fees with discretion, but any fee pact linked solely to the result is forbidden (art. 446ter, Judicial Code). A result fee is therefore allowed only as a supplement to a base fee.
  • Before the contract, every client receives the information of art. III.74 of the Code of Economic Law: the firm's identity, bar, professional title, liability insurance and its geographical cover.
  • A consumer client also receives the price including VAT, or how it is calculated (arts. VI.2 and VI.4). With an hourly rate, an estimate of the hours or periodic statements is needed (CJEU, 12 January 2023, C-395/21).
  • Concluded away from the office or at a distance, the agreement gives the consumer a 14-day right of withdrawal.
  • Second-line legal aid follows its own rules: neither Book VI nor art. III.74 applies to it.

The engagement letter tool turns these choices into a letter, a fee-information sheet and, where needed, a withdrawal form.

What the client must know before signing

Book VI of the Code of Economic Law has applied to lawyers since 1 November 2018: the law of 15 April 2018 repealed Book XIV on the liberal professions. The information is given in good time before the contract (art. III.77), and the burden of proof lies with the firm (art. III.78).

For every client, art. III.74 covers in particular the firm's name and legal form, address, contact details and enterprise number, the bar of registration, the professional title, whether there is an applicable-law or forum clause, and the professional liability insurer with its geographical cover. On request, the client receives how the price is calculated and where to read the professional rules (art. III.76).

For a consumer, art. VI.2 adds the main characteristics of the service, the total price including VAT or, where it cannot be calculated in advance, how it is calculated and the extra costs, the payment terms, complaints handling and how the contract ends. The AVOCATS.BE Code of conduct asks the lawyer to explain how fees, costs and disbursements are calculated, and to check with the client whether legal aid or a legal-expenses insurance may apply (arts. 5.10, 5.18 and 5.19).

Hourly rates after judgment C-395/21

The Court of Justice held that a term setting fees by the hour concerns the main subject matter of the contract. It is plain and intelligible only if the consumer received, before contracting, what is needed to assess the economic consequences. The lawyer need not predict the final cost, but the consumer must be able to estimate the approximate total cost: for example an estimate of the expected or minimum number of hours, or a commitment to send, at reasonable intervals, invoices or statements of the hours worked (paras. 43 and 44). The consumer should also know which events may lengthen the work.

The consequence can be severe: if the contract cannot survive without the term and the services were provided, the court may restore the consumer's position, even if the lawyer then receives no fee (paras. 58 to 67). In 2022, before that judgment, the Court of Cassation held that a breach of the pre-contractual information duty gives a right to damages (9 September 2022, C.21.0280.N), and that a lawyer charging by the hour must prove the hours and the calculation (C.22.0004.N). How these rulings fit with C-395/21 is still open.

In practice: an estimate in hours and in euros including VAT, the events that may change it, and regular interim statements. The tool requires one of the two and recommends both.

Result fees, costs, disbursements and VAT

  • Result fee. It supplements a base fee that remains due whatever the outcome. The AVOCATS.BE Code asks that provisions be calculated on the fee due without a favourable result, and that the supplement be reserved in the agreement (art. 5.22). No text says when a very low base fee makes the pact linked solely to the result.
  • Office costs. Correspondence, telephone, copies, travel: at actual cost, at unit prices or as a flat amount (art. 5.21). They follow the VAT of the fees.
  • Disbursements. Sums paid to third parties for the client: court fees, bailiffs, experts, translators. They stay outside the VAT base when the client is the legal debtor, the third party invoiced in the client's name, and the firm advanced the sum and recharges its exact amount (art. 28, 5°, VAT Code).
  • VAT. Lawyers' fees have borne 21 % VAT since 1 January 2014. A firm under the small-enterprise scheme (previous year's turnover up to €25,000) charges no VAT. For a business client established in Belgium, the invoice is a structured e-invoice sent through Peppol since 1 January 2026.

Provisions, statements and late payment

A provision is an advance on fees and costs, asked for in line with the agreed method; the balance is refunded at the end. Interim statements are periodic; the final statement lists the work, the result obtained, the fees, the costs and disbursements, and the sums received for the client (art. 5.22). Client funds go through the third-party account and are passed on without delay (art. 446quater, Judicial Code).

With a consumer, Book XIX of the Code of Economic Law has applied since 1 September 2023: a free first reminder, then 14 days before any interest or indemnity, and a capped lump sum (€20 up to €150 due, then €30 plus 10 %, then €65 plus 5 %, at most €2,000). Between enterprises, the law of 2 August 2002 provides for interest by operation of law and a €40 compensation.

Away from the office or at a distance: withdrawal

A contract concluded at the client's home, in hospital or in prison is an off-premises contract; one concluded entirely at a distance within an organised scheme (online booking, web intake) is a distance contract. In both cases the consumer may withdraw within 14 days of conclusion, without giving a reason. Without the information on that right and the model form, the period runs 12 months longer (arts. VI.48 and VI.68) and a consumer who withdraws after performance may owe nothing (CJEU, 17 May 2023, C-97/22).

To start work within the period, the firm needs the client's express request, on a durable medium off premises, and the client's acknowledgement that the right is lost once the contract has been fully performed (arts. VI.46, § 8, and VI.65, § 2). A client who withdraws pays in proportion to the work done. Occasional contracting by e-mail without an organised scheme remains a grey zone.

Complaints and fee disputes

The letter states who handles complaints in the firm and how fees can be contested. The bar council may reduce fees exceeding fair moderation (art. 446ter, al. 2), whatever the agreement (Cass., 24 March 2016), and this review is a matter of public order (Cass., 9 September 2022, C.21.0346.N). Under the AVOCATS.BE Code, each Ordre organises conciliation or an opinion, then mediation, arbitration or the courts (arts. 5.27 to 5.30). The Flemish bars have their own regulations. A consumer may refer the matter, free of charge, to the ombudsman: the AVOCATS.BE Ombudsman service or the OCA. The lawyer also tells the client about amicable ways of settling the client's own dispute (art. 444, al. 2). With a consumer, arbitration is proposed once a dispute exists, not in a prior clause.

Common mistakes and open points

  • The hourly rate alone. Without an estimate or periodic statements, the term may be held not transparent.
  • A price excluding VAT for a consumer. The price stated is the total including VAT (art. VI.4).
  • Forgetting withdrawal after a home visit. The period runs 12 months longer.
  • Keeping the file until paid. The file is handed over without delay to the client or the successor (AVOCATS.BE Code, art. 6.29; OVB Codex, art. 120).
  • Open points. The OVB models (December 2024) are for members and were not read; the Belgian transposition of the online withdrawal function (Directive 2023/2673, applicable since 19 June 2026) was not verified.

For pro deo work, see the legal aid tool. This guide assists the lawyer, who remains responsible for checking the applicable rule.

Sources

A drafting aid based on the sources cited. To be reviewed and adapted by the lawyer; it is neither advice nor a guarantee of compliance.