By Raphaël MORENON
1 April 2025
The conclusion of a lawsuit raises an essential question for the client and his counsel: who pays the legal costs? Article 696 of the Code of Civil Procedure lays down a general principle: unless the court decides otherwise, the losing party is ordered to pay the costs. However, there is often confusion between costs, which are a precisely defined category of expenses, and all the legal costs actually incurred in the course of proceedings. A significant proportion of expenses, in particular most of your lawyer's fees, are not included in the costs and are covered by another mechanism, that of Article 700. So what exactly are «costs»? What are the specific costs that the unsuccessful party may be ordered to pay? This is not a vague concept left to the discretion of the judge. On the contrary, the law is very clear. It is...
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