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Legal dispute is becoming expensive: consumers worried about avalanche of costs!
From June 2025, legal and court fees in Germany will rise significantly, presenting consumers with new challenges.
Legal dispute is becoming expensive: consumers worried about avalanche of costs!
From June 2025, new, significantly higher cost rates for legal and court fees will come into force in Germany. The Costs and Caregiver Remuneration Law Amendment Act 2025 ensures an increase in fees, which were already increased in 2021 by an amendment to the costs law. This means that in typical disputes, consumers must expect costs of at least 2,000 to 2,500 euros. In more complex legal disputes, such as those involving higher-value purchases, the costs can even be up to around 11,000 euros. Loud Insurance Journal The amounts in dispute in test cases have increased by around a fifth, while the actual costs for legal disputes have increased by more than 43 percent in some cases.
Examples of disputes illustrate the new cost structures: An eviction lawsuit for personal use has a dispute value of 7,137 euros and results in costs of 4,369 euros. A dismissal protection lawsuit, which also deals with the issue of employment references, has a value in dispute of 21,048 euros and costs of 4,126 euros. There are even costs of 11,109 euros for reversing sales contracts for defective new cars, which have a value in dispute of 45,896 euros.
Legal protection insurance and its challenges
High legal costs represent a significant hurdle, especially for consumers without legal protection. Almost 60 percent of consumers say they forgo taking legal action for cost reasons. Many lawyers are also noticing this development: 52 percent of them advise against proceedings due to the high costs. This could have extensive financial consequences for the approximately 60 percent of households in Germany that have legal protection insurance. In 2024 there were around 27.3 million legal protection insurance contracts in Germany.
Legal protection insurers expect additional costs of around 250 million euros annually due to the new law, which comes into force on June 1, 2025. Loud Smart calculator legal fees will increase by around 6 percent. For example, for an item worth 200,000 euros, a simple value fee of 2,352 euros must be calculated, with a total cost of up to 8,232 euros for the first instance. For comparable cases, the fee was significantly lower before the increase, highlighting the current financial burden on consumers.
In addition, the Lawyers' Remuneration Act (RVG) regulates the costs for lawyers. From June 1, 2025, the fee for an item worth up to 500 euros will be 51.50 euros, compared to 49 euros previously. In the new fee structure, the costs for higher amounts in dispute have also been significantly adjusted. For example, if the amount in dispute is 10,000 euros, the new fees have been increased to 59.50 euros, whereas they were previously 56 euros.