TRANSPARANT APPROACH

Offering the best possible solution is our job. In line with this philosophy, we recognise the consequences of the fee and discuss it in advance with our clients.
A system for follow-up and control is provided for and applied for the final settlement.
We estimate our fees and costs on the basis of the Belgian standards for lawyers.
Generally an hourly rate is applied (drafting contracts, routine consultations, normal experience, etc.).

Expenses

The costs relate to the material expenditures associated with the intervention of a lawyer and the infrastructure of the office.

The following costs, amongst others, are charged:

• • Opening of file (= general secretariat costs for the opening, closing and archiving of files and the related accounting) € 60.00 excl. VAT / € 72.60 incl. VAT
• • Correspondence and deeds (pleadings, contracts, etc.) per page € 10.00 excl. VAT / € 12.10 incl. VAT
• • E-mails (processing and classification of incoming and outgoing mail) per e-mail € 6.00 excl. VAT / € 7.26 incl. VAT
• • Travel expense per kilometre € 0.50 excl. VAT / € 0.61 incl. VAT
• • Registered letters: re-billing of the postal price, to be increased by the VAT
• • Court costs (cause-list fees, etc.) to be paid on the basis of the statutory rates

The mentioned unit prices apply for the year 2015 and are adjustable annually.

Fees

The fee is the compensation for the intellectual work we do.
Unless otherwise agreed, our fee is calculated on the basis of an hourly rate that ranges from € 75.00 excl. VAT / € 102.85 incl. VAT to € 200.00 excl. VAT / € 242.00 incl. VAT.

General terms and conditions

1. The present general terms and conditions apply to all services that the Durnez law firm (hereafter referred to as “Durnez”) provides to its clients. Each time a client calls upon the services of Durnez he is deemed to know the present terms and conditions and to accept them without reservation.

2. Durnez has the possibility of allocating assignments and cases to lawyers that form part of Durnez. Durnez also has the possibility of outsourcing certain assignments to other lawyers who do not form part of Durnez.

3. Letters, opinions, trial documents, etc. are transferred by Durnez to the clientele under the express reservation that the client respect their confidentiality. The client may only transfer the aforementioned documents, as well as their contents, to third parties subject to the explicit advance written consent of Durnez.

4. The opinions, written documents, etc., issuing from Durnez are protected by intellectual property law in general and copyright in particular, and may under no circumstances be used or reproduced without the explicit advance written consent of Durnez.

5. The contractual and extra-contractual liability of Durnez, including all lawyers within Durnez, is limited to the amount of the coverage of the professional liability insurer of Durnez.

6. The services of Durnez are invoiced by and payable to Durnez Johan. At the start of the file, and depending on the services that are performed, the client will receive payment requests. The costs are charged when the file is closed, or in the interim at your express request. The payment requests are payable within 15 days after sending, unless expressly agreed or stipulated otherwise. After receipt of the payment, the client receives the corresponding invoice. In case an invoice is not preceded by a payment request, the invoice is payable within 15 days after the invoice date, unless agreed or stipulated otherwise. Protest must be made by registered letter within eight days after sending of the invoice, payment request and/or provision of the work.
If the invoice or the payment request is received when a consumer is under EU law, a payment period of 20 calendar days applies.

7. In the event of non-payment of both the payment request and the invoice by a person who, in the capacity of client of Durnez, is not a consumer under EU law, late-payment interest of 10% on an annual basis and liquidated damages of 10% on the outstanding amount are owed, ipso jure and without requirement of demand by registered letter, with a minimum of € 100.00 and with reservation of the possibility of re-billing the actual cost price of collection, should this be higher than the flat fee provided for.
In the event of non-payment of both the payment request and the invoice by a person who, in the capacity of client of Durnez, is a consumer under EU law, late-payment interest is owed at the legal interest rate increased by a coefficient of 10% and the actual value of the amicable collection costs is re-billed with the following lump-sum limits: € 40.00 if the owed principal amount is not higher than € 400.00; 10% on the tranche from € 400.01 to € 5,000.00; 5% on the tranche from € 5,000.01 to € 10,000.00; 1% on the tranche from € 10,000.01 to € 200,000.00 ; 0.5% on the tranche as of € 200,000.01; Absolute limit of € 6,650.00 in costs for the amicable collection). After a judicial audit, higher compensations may be demanded by Durnez if the actual damage due to payment default exceeds the maximum limits.

Clients of Durnez agree that they can receive payment reminders by post and by e-mail. For e-mail, use is made of the e-mail addresses that the customer used to communicate with Durnez prior to the payment reminder.
All amounts and compensations under this point relate solely to the amicable collection costs that precede judicial collection. Durnez will re-bill the costs of a possible judicial collection in accordance with the law.

8. In case of non-payment of both the payment request and the invoice, Durnez has the right to suspend – or, depending on the case, to terminate – its services and interventions without prior formal notice of default.

9. The client expressly acknowledges that Durnez cannot be held liable for any damage that the client should suffer as a result of suspension or termination of services and interventions due to the client´s payment default, due to his own omissions and/or errors and those of third parties. Durnez is never liable for indirect or consequential loss.

10. Durnez processes personal data exclusively within the framework of the legal services in accordance with the GDPR legislation.

11. If one or several provisions of these general terms and conditions should be declared to be invalid, this shall have no effect on the legal validity of the other provisions.

12. In case of a dispute, the District Courts of Leuven shall have jurisdiction, without prejudice to the right of Durnez to make the case pending before the courts of the domicile or registered office of the client.

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Payments should preferably be made via bank transfer. Cash payments or (bank) cheques are not accepted. For bank transfers, please always use the indicated communication to ensure smooth processing of the payment.

Payments must always be made into the fee account.

Payments of third-party monies must be made into the third-party account. The payment data are always indicated in the payment request.

Third-party account

KBC BE51 7343 7726 7462

BIC: KREDBEBB

Fee account

ING BE13 3300 6041 9839

BIC: BBRUBEBB