Fees

§1. The dominus litis/member of the PELGRIMS-GOUDENHOOFT firm will periodically invoice the client for their activities, administrative costs, and advanced expenses via an invoice. A specification of the performed work and costs will be sent to the client upon first request.

§2. Unless otherwise agreed, the performed activities under the heading of fees are charged based on a fixed amount determined by the dominus litis/member of the PELGRIMS-GOUDENHOOFT firm, primarily taking into account the time spent on a specific file and the basic hourly rate of the lawyers who performed the relevant services, in addition to the nature, complexity, commitment, and urgency of the case.

The dominus litis/member of the PELGRIMS-GOUDENHOOFT firm also sets the basic hourly rate based on the nature of the case, the commitment to the case, the difficulty of the case, the experience of the handling lawyer in the relevant legal field, and the urgency of the assignment.

The basic hourly rates may be indexed annually and may also be adjusted on an individual basis per lawyer. The client can always request updated basic hourly rates.

Any correspondence (phone, email, mail, fax, etc.) will be charged at a minimum of 15 minutes. For processing received correspondence (phone, email, mail, fax, etc.), a minimum of 15 minutes will also be charged.

The general office expenses (file opening, management and archiving, telephone, fax, mail, copying, typing of procedural documents, secretariat operations, stationery, postage stamps, searches in databases, etc.) are not included in this hourly rate and amount to 10% of the charged fees per case/assignment.

Other possible special costs (registered mail, courier, court costs, roll rights, bailiff's fees, civil status certificates, address requests, translation, expertise, and in general all costs incurred outside the office, etc.) are not included in the hourly rate and will be charged directly to you at the actual cost.

The dominus litis/member of the PELGRIMS-GOUDENHOOFT firm and the client may agree on other formulas for calculating fees and administrative costs for undisputed and simpler cases. These formulas may include:

• charging a lump sum amount per case or per case per instance;
• charging only interests, penalty clauses and/or litigation fees per case (regardless of whether these amounts can actually be recovered by the client). The costs that the dominus litis/member of the PELGRIMS-GOUDENHOOFT firm has advanced to third parties, such as registries, mortgage offices, registration offices, official or unofficial databases, third-party lawyers, bailiffs, notaries, translators, accountants, auditors, experts, and (domestic and foreign) agencies, are charged separately under the heading of costs based on the actual costs incurred (plus VAT if applicable).

§3. The dominus litis/member of the PELGRIMS-GOUDENHOOFT firm reserves the right to request a provision from the client before the start and during its activities via a provision statement and to only start or continue its activities or advance costs after its payment. A statement of costs and fees in these conditions also includes a provision statement.

A provision is a lump sum amount that the client pays to the dominus litis/member of the PELGRIMS-GOUDENHOOFT firm before an interim statement or final statement. This provision may relate to services already provided or costs advanced, or may be an advance on services to be provided or costs to be incurred, or a combination of both. In the interim or final statement, the provisions are deducted from the total amount.

§4. The mention of an invoice in the firm's accounting serves as proof of its sending and receipt by the recipient.

§5. If the client disagrees with an invoice, they must contest it in writing and with reasons within fourteen days from the date of the statement, under penalty of forfeiture of right.

§6. Unless otherwise agreed, all invoices are payable at the office's seat, without discount, within 15 days of the invoice date.

If an invoice is not paid by the due date of the statement, the firm has, without needing to formally notify the client in advance, (a) the right to charge late interest at an interest rate of 10% from the date of the statement until full payment as well as (b) the right to charge a lump sum compensation of 10% of the late-paid amount, notwithstanding its right to court costs (including the applicable litigation fee), should a judicial collection follow.

In this case, the dominus litis/member of the PELGRIMS-GOUDENHOOFT firm also has the right either to suspend the execution of its activities in all files with the concerned client until all statements are fully paid, or to terminate the overall collaboration with the client with immediate effect.

The dominus litis/member of the PELGRIMS-GOUDENHOOFT firm is not liable for any damage resulting from the suspension of its activities or the termination of its agreement with the client.

§6. If the dominus litis/member of the PELGRIMS-GOUDENHOOFT firm represents the interests of multiple clients in a case, all these clients are jointly and severally liable for the payment of the statements of fees and costs related to this case (possibly increased with the accessories mentioned in §5 and all collection costs), regardless of which client the firm has issued its invoices to.

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