These terms apply to every matter handled by Pand & Pleit Advocaten BV, Jean-Baptiste van Monsstraat 23, 3000 Leuven, enterprise number 0784.316.561, VAT BE 0784.316.561. Anything agreed in writing for a specific matter takes precedence.
A matter starts when we confirm by email what we will do and which fee applies. A request through the website or a first meeting does not oblige either side to continue.
Fixed fees are those listed on the fixed fees page on the day of confirmation. Work outside a fixed fee is billed at €145 an hour, in units of six minutes, and only after you accept a written estimate. If the estimate will be exceeded, we tell you before we go on. All amounts exclude 21% VAT.
Court fees, bailiff costs, translation and registered mail are paid by you at cost, with the receipt. For court matters we may ask for an advance on these costs.
Invoices are payable within 14 days by bank transfer. For business clients, late payment carries interest under the Act of 2 August 2002. For consumers, the first reminder is free and statutory interest applies only after it, as set out in Book XIX of the Code of Economic Law.
We commit to careful work, not to a particular outcome. Everything you tell us stays under professional secrecy. Before taking a matter we check for conflicts of interest and, where the law requires it, your identity.
Our liability is limited to the amount paid out by the professional liability insurance that covers all members of the Flemish bars, except in case of intent or gross negligence.
You can end a matter at any time and pay only for work already done. We may end it with reasonable notice, for example if a conflict of interest appears, and we will not do so in a way that harms a deadline.
Tell Ruben Claeys first. If that does not settle it, you can turn to the dean of the Leuven Bar. Belgian law applies and the courts of Leuven have jurisdiction, without taking away any right a consumer has to go to the court of their own residence.