Litigation involves the need to incur various costs. Lodging a claim requires the payment of a filing fee, which amounts to 5% of the asserted claim (but not less than 30 zlotys). Moreover, in the course of the proceedings there usually arises the need to consult the experts, and thus to bear the costs of a report prepared by the latter. Sometimes there is the need to reimburse the travel expenses borne by the witnesses and the cost of preparing the translation.
In the situation when due to the financial status, the litigant is not able to pay the court costs as indicated above, he or she may apply for an exemption from the obligation to cover the costs. When filing such an application, the applicant is obliged to demonstrate that he or she cannot pay the costs without detriment to the maintenance of himself and his family. The decision to exempt the party from the costs is taken by the court: the latter can either exempt the party from the costs in whole or in part (usually in such a case the court exempts the party from the obligation to pay the filing fee), or deny the exemption in full.
It should be emphasized that the exemption from the costs referred to above is interim, since the general rule is that the litigation costs are imposed on the losing party in the judgment.
The above rules do not apply to the costs of client representation by our law firm. The fee for handling the case is settled individually.