Costs of the lawyer activity Costs of the lawyer's activity are often asked by clients who are not insured for legal expenses.
It should be said in advance that it seems important to me to take out a legal protection insurance. For a few hundred Euro contribution per year the cost risk is covered. The client as well as his lawyer can deal with the actual problem unbiased by cost issues. Who "stands in the middle of the life", gets it nevertheless now and then with legal problems to do, it is in the traffic or with the employer, the landlord or the authorities. The prosecution for this is usually not free of charge. Yet many fellow citizens are not aware of this or postpone the plan to take out legal protection insurance into the future ("what could happen to me"). A still widespread opinion that legal protection insurance can still be taken out when a legal case arises overlooks the fact that, apart from a few narrow exceptions, legal protection insurers have a waiting period of three months after conclusion of the contract in their contracts, so that they do not cover the case that has just arisen.
If the citizen decided to the conclusion of a legal protection insurance contract, it should inquire itself in my opinion after it, how much difference it makes in the contribution height, if it locks a contract without self participation (usually 150,00 € per legal case). Because I often experience that cases with an amount in dispute in the range of up to 1.000.00, because the legal expenses insurance can refer to the deductible.
The costs are based on sog. Civil cases, in which one citizen wants to achieve something against the other, in principle (if therefore no fee agreement is made between lawyer and client) according to the object value. Minor payment claims thus cost less than expensive ones.
The principle that the "loser pays the costs" applies primarily only in court proceedings. If the client wants to charge the costs of his own lawyer for pre-court activities to the opponent, he should first, before he visits his lawyer, threaten the opponent with the imminent involvement of the lawyer by asserting his claim and setting a deadline.
In judicial civil cases (not criminal cases), there is a possibility to apply for legal aid in case of financially tight circumstances. The court then examines whether the applicant is "poor" in the sense of the law. Support entitlements (for children and spouse) are taken into account when checking the financial circumstances.
In the run-up to the court proceedings, the application for legal aid may be considered. However, the legislator. The courts have used this option for some proceedings (e.G. B. From the field of family law) is severely restricted on the grounds that counseling centers z. B. At the Youth Welfare Office or at state-funded agencies (e.G. B. Ecclesiastical agencies or charities for the out-of-court debt settlement plan procedure) available. Therefore the state does not need to pay a lawyer. What I consider to be a citizen's interpretation of the Advisory Assistance Act. The citizen's access to the legal system is severely restricted. The lawyer is not even particularly sad about it. Because the consulting aid rates for the lawyer activity are fixed on a very low level, a further weak point of the handling of the national justice places (above all the legislator is asked here) with the legal needs of the weaker members of our society in my opinion.
Costs, examples:
For values up to 500.00 €, the lawyer's fee for a simple out-of-court activity, which arises with the order to contact the other side, is about 85.00 €.
With a value of 5.000.00 the costs amount to about 500.00 €.
In criminal cases there are fee frames. An average simple criminal case in court (z. B. Charge of shoplifting) can be up to the end of a criminal case – depending on its course – about between 600.00 € and 1.200.00 € in defender fees cost.