Recoverable court costs in Portugal: what the losing side owes you

What recoverable costs are

When a case ends, the judgment orders the losing party to pay costs. That order has two distinct consequences, and they are easy to confuse.

The first is the court's own costs account, drawn up by the registry. The second is the custas de parte: reimbursement of the winner's expenses, paid directly by the losing party to the winning party, without passing through the court (article 26.º, n.º 2 of the RCP)¹.

The distinction is not academic. Portaria 419-A/2009 states expressly, in article 30.º, n.º 1, that recoverable costs are not included in the costs account². The court does not collect them for you. If the winner does nothing, the winner receives nothing.

The four heads of article 26.º, n.º 3

The law leaves no room for interpretation about what is recoverable. Article 26.º, n.º 3 lists exactly four heads¹:

• a) The court fee paid by the winner, in proportion to the win. This is the only head the law expressly scales down when the victory is partial.
• b) The charges borne by the winner, including the enforcement agent's expenses. Things like expert reports, translations or certificates.
• c) 50% of the court fees paid by the losing party and by the winning party added together, as compensation for the expenses with the lawyer's fees.
• d) The fees paid to the enforcement agent.

Note the wording of point c): the total is of both parties' fees, not just the winner's. In an action where each side paid €510, the total is €1,020 and the maximum compensation is €510.

Paragraph 4 of the same article says what goes into that total: the fees of procedural steps and other incidents count too, but never fines, penalties, the taxa sancionatória or the surcharge paid by commercial companies¹.

The 50% ceiling is the rule almost everyone reads backwards

Many people read point c) as a right to receive half the fees. It is not. It is a ceiling, and article 26.º, n.º 5 spells it out in both directions¹:

The amount referred to in point c) of n.º 3 is reduced to the amount indicated in point d) of n.º 2 of the previous article when the latter is lower than the former, and no payment is due under it when no lawyer or enforcement agent has been appointed.

In numbers, for a €30,000 action where the ceiling is €510:

• you paid €5,000 in lawyer's fees, you recover €510;
• you paid €300 in fees, you recover €300, not €510;
• you appointed no lawyer, you recover €0 under this head.

Portaria 419-A/2009 confirms it from the other side, in article 32.º, n.º 1: only amounts up to the article 26.º, n.º 3, point c) limit are considered in the note². That is why article 25.º, n.º 2, point d) does not even require the fee amount to be declared when it exceeds that limit: above the ceiling, the exact figure is irrelevant.

The practical consequence matters to anyone weighing whether to litigate: the more expensive the lawyer relative to the value of the case, the bigger the share the winner still carries.

The itemised and justified note

To collect, the winner must send the court, the losing party and, where there is one, the enforcement agent an itemised and justified note within 10 days of the decision becoming final or of notice that payment or the proceeds of the attachment have been obtained in full (article 25.º, n.º 1)¹. The note can still be corrected up to 10 days after notice of the costs account.

Article 25.º, n.º 2 sets out what the note must contain, each item under its own heading: the identification of the party, the case and the lawyer or enforcement agent; the amounts actually paid as court fees; those paid as charges; those paid as lawyer's or enforcement agent's fees; and the final amount to be received.

On the other side, the party notified can challenge the note within 10 days, but that challenge requires depositing the full amount at stake. The judge decides within the same period and there is an appeal, at one level only, solely if the note exceeds 50 units of account, that is €5,100 in 2026 (article 26.º-A)¹.

Partial wins, several winners and legal aid

When the win is partial, the law scales down in proportion only the court fee under point a). The other points are not expressly proportioned. Note that in a partial victory the court usually orders both parties to pay costs in their respective proportions (articles 527.º onwards of the Code of Civil Procedure)³, so each can file its own note.

Where there are several winners, article 32.º, n.º 2 of the Portaria requires the point c) limit to be divided among them according to their proportion of the win². The ceiling does not multiply by the number of people on the winning side.

Finally, legal aid changes who receives and who pays (article 26.º, n.os 6 and 7)¹:

• if the losing party has a court-fee waiver, the reimbursement of the fees paid by the winner is borne by the Institute for Financial Management and Justice Facilities;
• if it is the winning party that has that waiver, the recoverable costs paid by the loser go to that same institute rather than to them.

Work out your own case

The heads are simple to add up, but the 50% ceiling depends on what both parties paid in court fees, which means going to Table I-A before doing the sum. The recoverable costs calculator runs that whole path from the value of the claim, and shows separately how much of the lawyer's bill stays with you.

If you are still budgeting the case, start with the court fees calculator; and if cost is the obstacle, see the legal aid simulator.