How court fees work in 2026 and when you can get an exemption

Quick overview

Court fees are primarily regulated by Act No. 549/1991 Coll., on Court Fees. It determines who is the fee payer, when the fee obligation arises, what the rates are and what the consequences of non-payment are. For some proceedings, the law provides for exemption directly. In addition, the court may, in individual cases, exempt a party from paying fees in whole or in part if his circumstances justify it and if it is not arbitrary or manifestly unsuccessful.

Why court fees are payable

Court fees are statutory charges levied for proceedings before the courts and for certain individual acts. The law assumes that the fees are a revenue of the state budget and that they are levied for acts listed in the schedule of fees annexed to the law. In addition to their fiscal function, they also have a regulatory function: among other things, they are intended to deter apparently frivolous or unjustified submissions.

In practice, we often encounter the idea that the fee is dealt with only when the court sends the summons. However, this is not entirely accurate. For many applications, the fee is payable by the filing itself. Typically, this is an action, an appeal, an appeal or a cassation appeal. If the fee is not paid, the court will usually ask the fee payer to pay it and set a time limit of at least 15 days, after which it may stay the proceedings.

If you are not sure whether this applies to you, please contact our legal advice service.

Who usually pays the court fee

The basic rule is quite simple: the person who initiates the proceedings is usually the one who pays the court fee. In proceedings before the court of first instance, this is typically the claimant; in administrative proceedings, it is the person who brought the action or appeal. However, the law also provides for special situations, for example, in the case of a counterclaim by the defendant or certain proceedings initiated without an application.

That is why it is not possible to rely on ‘the court deciding who should pay’. In most common litigation, it is a good idea to assume that the fee obligation arises at the outset and should be addressed at the time of filing.

How the court fee is determined

The amount of the court fee is not determined by the court in a discretionary manner, but directly by the scale of fees in the Annex to the Court Fees Act. For some applications it is a fixed amount, for others it is a percentage of the value of the dispute.

A typical example is an action for money damages. According to item 1 of the tariff, the fee is:

• cZK 1,000 if the claim is for a pecuniary benefit of up to CZK 20,000,
• 5 % of the amount if the claim is for a sum exceeding CZK 20 000 up to CZK 40 000 000,
• and for amounts over CZK 40,000,000 the law provides for CZK 2,000,000 and 1% of the amount exceeding CZK 40,000,000; the amount over CZK 250,000,000 is not included.

For other matters, on the other hand, the fixed rate is used. It always depends on what type of proceedings are involved and which tariff item is to be applied.

Common examples of court fees

A few common examples are useful for reference.

The fee for an application to initiate divorce proceedings is CZK 2,000 if the application is to initiate proceedings for an agreed divorce and CZK 5,000 in other cases. This is an important distinction that is often overlooked in practice.

The fee for an application for the commencement of proceedings for the division of the matrimonial property is CZK 2,000, but the rate is increased by CZK 5,000 for each immovable property and by CZK 15,000 for each business establishment or organisational unit thereof that is the subject of the division. For more complex assets, the resulting fee may therefore be significantly higher than it first appears.

The fee for an action against a decision of an administrative authority is CZK 3,000, CZK 5,000 for an appeal and CZK 3,000 for an application for enforcement of a decision by eviction.

The situation is more complicated for appeals, as the rate depends on the type of case. It is therefore not appropriate to write in general terms that ‘an appeal costs a uniform amount’. It is more correct to point out that the fee for an appeal depends on the specific item in the tariff and the nature of the decision against which it is brought.

How the court fee is paid

Fees levied by the court or the court administration shall be paid into an account established with the Czech National Bank for the relevant court. The older idea that court fees could normally be paid with stamps no longer corresponds to the current legal regulations for new proceedings. The transitional provisions expressly provided for only limited payment of the old stamps until the end of 2024.

In practice, it is therefore always safer to rely on the payment details of the court and its instructions. A wrong payment or late payment may cause unnecessary procedural complications.

What happens if you don’t pay the fee

Failure to pay court fees can have significant consequences. However, it is not entirely accurate to simply say that “the court will dismiss the proceedings”. The law lays down the procedure in more detail: if the fee payable on the application, appeal, appeal or cassation has not been paid,the court will ask the fee payer to pay it and set a deadline of at least 15 days; exceptionally, the deadline may be shorter. The notice shall inform the taxpayer that, in the event of non-payment, the court shall dismiss the proceedings. On expiry of the time limit, the court shall dismiss the proceedings and no account shall be taken of any subsequent payment. The same procedure shall apply in appeal and appeal proceedings.

Example from legal practice

We encounter situations where a client files a lawsuit on his/her own and only starts legal aid after he/she receives a notice to pay the court fee. The client then often assumes that once the court has registered the case, the fee can be paid at any time. In reality, however, the futile expiry of the deadline set by the court may mean that the proceedings are discontinued and, in some cases, that there is a serious problem with the further pursuit of the claim.

When you may be exempt from court fees

Exemption from court fees should be distinguished on two levels.

The first is a statutory exemption, i.e. a situation where the law directly provides that certain proceedings or certain persons do not pay the fee. The second is an individual exemption, which is decided by the court in accordance with the procedural rules on the basis of an application by a party.

1. Statutory exemption

§ Section 11 of the Court Fees Act contains a relatively broad catalogue of proceedings and persons exempt from the fee. This includes, for example, certain custody of minors matters, certain maintenance matters, survival proceedings in the first instance, certain social security matters or other situations listed by law. In many cases, the exemption also applies to the appellate, appellate, execution or enforcement phase of the proceedings.

This is particularly important because the public sometimes automatically assumes that all litigation is fee-based. In fact, in some sensitive types of proceedings, the law explicitly favours access to the courts without a fee barrier.

2. Individual exemptions

In addition to the statutory exemption, the court may also grant an individual exemption to someone who can show that his or her circumstances justify that the fee obligation be waived in whole or in part. This is no longer a matter of a direct provision in the Court Fees Act, but of a decision by the court according to the procedural rules. From the point of view of practice, it is essential that the court does not only assess income, but also the overall financial situation, regular expenses, maintenance obligations and whether the claim is manifestly unsuccessful.

In practice, therefore, it is not the case that low income automatically means entitlement to exemption. The applicant must prove his situation convincingly and it must also be clear that the dispute is not arbitrary or manifestly hopeless.

Example from legal practice

Quite often we encounter clients who believe that the court must automatically waive the fee if they can prove that they have a low income. However, this is not the case. The court usually asks for a comprehensive picture of assets: income, expenses, number of dependants, debts and any assets. If the request is general and unsubstantiated, the court may deny it even if the applicant’s financial situation is truly dire.

How to apply for exemption

It is advisable to apply for exemption from court fees as soon as possible, ideally at the same time as the application or immediately after the court has ordered payment. The court will normally want to see evidence of the applicant’s personal, financial and earning circumstances. In practice, it is therefore necessary to attach, for example, proof of income, bank statements, a summary of regular expenses, information on maintenance obligations and other documents that provide credible evidence of the situation.

The more convincing and specific the documentation you provide to the court, the less risk there is that the court will reject the application simply because it is not clear why the conditions for exemption should be met in your case.

Is the court fee ever refunded?

Yes. The Court Fees Act provides for a number of cases where the fee is refunded. For example, the court will refund the fee if it has been paid by someone who was not obliged to pay it or if an overpayment has been made. At the same time, if the proceedings are discontinued before the first hearing, the fee paid is generally refunded, reduced by 20%, but not less than CZK 1,000.

However, a special rule applies to divorce. If the divorce proceedings are discontinued or the application is withdrawn before the decision of the court of first instance is delivered, the court shall refund the full amount of the fee paid. If the application is withdrawn after the court has issued a decision which has not yet become final and has not been appealed, the court shall refund half of the fee.

This may be relevant in practice, for example, if the spouses agree during the proceedings and withdraw the application.