The statement of sumsStatement · Court costs
Court costs in France, dépens and article 700: what the losing party repays, what the judge sets, and a statement of your costs
After a French civil or employment case, the losing party in principle pays the dépens (Code of Civil Procedure, article 696): the closed list of article 695, including the €50 contribution, commissaire de justice acts and the court-appointed expert. Free lawyer fees and your travel are claimed under article 700: the judge sets the sum by equity, and may award nothing.
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Give the court, what the judgment says about the dépens and article 700, and the costs you incurred.
Example questions
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Which costs are dépens, and which fall under article 700?
The list of dépens is closed; everything else is asked of the judge under article 700.
| Cost | Category | Text |
|---|---|---|
| Legal-aid contribution of €50 | Dépens | CGI article 1635 bis Q; sheet F1816 |
| Court registry charges and emoluments | Dépens | Article 695, 1° |
| Witness allowances | Dépens | Article 695, 3° |
| Court-appointed expert | Dépens | Article 695, 4° |
| Tariffed commissaire de justice acts | Dépens | Article 695, 6° |
| Regulated lawyer pay, including the pleading fee | Dépens; no pleading fee at the employment tribunal | Article 695, 7°; sheet F1816 |
| Free lawyer fees | Article 700 | Article 700; sheet F1816 |
| Your travel and accommodation for the hearing | Article 700 | Sheet F1816 |
| An expert or consultant you chose | Article 700 | Sheet F1816 |
Before the administrative judge, dépens are limited to expertise, inquiry and other investigative measures (Code of Administrative Justice, article R761-1); the rest falls under article L761-1.
Sources: CPC 695 · CGI 1635 bis Q · Service-public F1816 · CPC 700 · CJA R761-1
Which costs can you claim from the losing party?
Choose the court, say whether you have legal aid and enter each cost: the statement adds up the dépens, sets apart what falls under article 700 and dates the contest of the verified account. The example: before the tribunal judiciaire, a writ served for €180, a court expert at €1,200, €2,400 of fees and €150 of travel.
Fictional example · the costs statement
€1,430.00 of dépens to claim from the losing party; €2,550.00 of costs to document under article 700.
- Costs to document under article 700
- €2,550.00
- Amount awarded
- set by the judge by equity, sometimes nil
- Legal-aid contributiondépens, CGI article 1635 bis Q€50.00€50.00
- Commissaire de justice actsdépens, article 695, 6°€180.00€230.00
- Court-appointed expertdépens, article 695, 4°€1,200.00€1,430.00
- Free lawyer feesarticle 700, outside the dépens€2,400.00
- Travel and accommodationarticle 700, outside the dépens€150.00
Dépens to claim€1,430.00
Indicative result: the judgment says who bears the dépens, and the judge can share them; the article 700 sum is never automatic.
How do you recover the dépens after the judgment?
Five steps, from the operative part of the judgment to the enforcement order.
Read the operative part
The judgment says who bears the dépens, in whole or in part, and sets the sum due under article 700 (articles 696 and 700).
Have the account verified
If there is a difficulty, a party asks the court clerk, with no formality, to verify the amount of the article 695 dépens (article 704).
Notify the verified account
The other side has a month to contest it; the notice states that period and how to use it (article 706).
Get the enforcement order
Without a contest in time, the clerk notes it on the verification certificate: that note is an enforcement order (article 707).
If it is contested
A reasoned request for a taxing order is filed with the registry (article 708); the order is challenged within a month before the first president of the court of appeal (article 714).
What does article 700 of the French Code of Civil Procedure say?
The sum the judge can add for costs that are not dépens.
Le juge condamne la partie tenue aux dépens ou qui perd son procès à payer :
1° A l’autre partie la somme qu’il détermine, au titre des frais exposés et non compris dans les dépens ;
2° Et, le cas échéant, à l’avocat du bénéficiaire de l’aide juridictionnelle partielle ou totale une somme au titre des honoraires et frais, non compris dans les dépens, que le bénéficiaire de l’aide aurait exposés s’il n’avait pas eu cette aide. Dans ce cas, il est procédé comme il est dit aux alinéas 3 et 4 de l’article 37 de la loi n° 91-647 du 10 juillet 1991.
Dans tous les cas, le juge tient compte de l’équité ou de la situation économique de la partie condamnée. Il peut, même d’office, pour des raisons tirées des mêmes considérations, dire qu’il n’y a pas lieu à ces condamnations.
Les parties peuvent produire les justificatifs des sommes qu’elles demandent.
La somme allouée au titre du 2° ne peut être inférieure à la part contributive de l’Etat majorée de 50 %.
In English, briefly (our summary, not an official translation): The judge orders the party bearing the dépens or losing the case to pay: 1° the other party the sum the judge sets for costs incurred and not included in the dépens; 2° where relevant, the lawyer of a partial or full legal-aid beneficiary a sum for the fees and costs outside the dépens that the beneficiary would have incurred without that aid, as paragraphs 3 and 4 of article 37 of law no. 91-647 of 10 July 1991 provide. In every case, the judge takes account of equity or the economic situation of the party ordered to pay, and may, even of their own motion, decide there is no ground for these orders. The parties may produce evidence of the sums they claim. The sum awarded under 2° cannot be lower than the State’s share increased by 50%. Our note: before the administrative judge, the same rule is in article L761-1 of the Code of Administrative Justice.
Who pays the dépens of the case?
The losing party, in principle. The judge may however, by a reasoned decision, put all or part of them on another party (Code of Civil Procedure, article 696).
Each party advances its costs during the case; the judgment then says who bears them (sheet F1816).
Sources: CPC 696 · Service-public F1816
How much does the judge award under article 700?
The sum the judge sets, with no scale: it takes account of equity or the economic situation of the party ordered to pay, and may even decide there is no ground for an order (article 700).
Ask for it in writing, for example in the writ, with your invoices and the fee agreement (sheet F1816).
Sources: CPC 700 · Service-public F1816
What about the administrative court?
The dépens only include expertise, inquiry and other investigative measures not borne by the State (Code of Administrative Justice, article R761-1).
Other costs are claimed under article L761-1, on the same equity logic as article 700.
Sources: CJA R761-1 · CJA L761-1
What do parties to a French case ask about costs?
Are lawyer fees part of the dépens?
Only regulated lawyer pay, such as the pleading fee, is (article 695, 7°); free fees are claimed under article 700.
Is the €50 contribution repaid?
It is part of the dépens (sheet F1816); legal-aid beneficiaries do not owe it, nor does anyone for an order to pay (CGI article 1635 bis Q).
Can you contest the amount of the dépens?
In civil or employment proceedings: within the month after the verified account is notified (article 706), then by a request for a taxing order, itself open to challenge within a month (article 714).
Can the lawyer recover the dépens directly?
Yes, where a lawyer is compulsory: they can ask to recover from the losing party the dépens they advanced without a retainer (article 699).
Which texts do court costs rest on?
- Code of Civil Procedure, article 695 (list of dépens)Légifrance
- Code of Civil Procedure, article 696 (losing party)Légifrance
- Code of Civil Procedure, article 700 (costs outside the dépens)Légifrance
- Code of Civil Procedure, article 704 (verifying the dépens)Légifrance
- Code of Civil Procedure, article 706 (contesting the verified account)Légifrance
- Code of Civil Procedure, article 714 (challenging the taxing order)Légifrance
- General Tax Code, article 1635 bis Q (legal-aid contribution)Légifrance
- Code of Administrative Justice, article R761-1 (dépens)Légifrance
- Code of Administrative Justice, article L761-1 (costs outside the dépens)Légifrance
- Law no. 91-647 of 10 July 1991, article 37 (the legal-aid lawyer)Légifrance
- The cost of a court case (sheet F1816, in French)Service-public.fr · checked on 9 April 2026
- Code of Civil Procedure, article 707 (enforcement order)Légifrance
- Code of Civil Procedure, article 699 (recovery by the lawyer)Légifrance
- Code of Civil Procedure, article 708 (request for a taxing order)Légifrance
Texts cited last checked: 27 September 2026