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Second-line legal aid: conditions, points and payments

The income conditions and presumptions of the Judicial Code, the client's contribution, then the point value and the payment dates, as they apply from 1 September 2026.

Updated on 7 October 2026

Pro deo eligibility check
On this page
  1. The essentials
  2. Who has legal aid
  3. The thresholds and the deduction per dependant
  4. The client's contribution and court costs
  5. The request, urgency and appeal
  6. Points, their value and the payments
  7. Open points
  8. Sources

The essentials

  • The conditions of second-line legal aid are in the Judicial Code (arts. 508/13 to 508/13/4) since 1 September 2020. The royal decree of 18 December 2003 is repealed from that date.
  • From 1 September 2026, a single person has full aid below €1,670 net a month and partial aid up to €1,988; a household, below €1,988 and up to €2,305, after a deduction of €369.58 per dependant.
  • A minor always has full aid; eleven other categories have it until proven otherwise.
  • With partial aid, the client pays the lawyer a contribution of €25 to €125 per designation.
  • A point is worth €99.47 for payments in 2026; a travel point, €50. Points are paid in two lists a year, usually in June and December.

The legal aid eligibility check applies these rules on the date of the application and prepares the file note.

Who has legal aid

Second-line legal aid covers detailed legal advice, assistance in or outside proceedings and representation, for natural persons (art. 508/1, 2°). It is fully or partly free for persons whose means of subsistence are insufficient and for those treated as such (art. 508/13).

Three checks come before the means test:

  • A third-party payer. Aid is not granted to the extent that a legal expenses insurance or another third party can pay.
  • A minor. A minor has full aid on proof of age (art. 508/13/1, § 4). This presumption cannot be rebutted, and the parents' income does not count when they act for the child.
  • The presumed categories. Eleven categories are presumed to lack sufficient means until proven otherwise (art. 508/13/1, § 2): integration income or social aid from a CPAS, income guarantee for the elderly, income replacement allowance for persons with disabilities, guaranteed family benefits, social tenant, detainee, accused under arts. 216quinquies to 216septies of the Code of Criminal Procedure, person with a psychiatric condition (procedures of the law of 26 June 1990), foreigner (residence application or appeal under the law of 15 December 1980), asylum seeker or applicant for displaced-person status, over-indebted person (to file a collective debt settlement petition).

The legal aid office may always check the means, including the last tax assessment (art. 508/13/1, § 3), and refuse the aid if capital, advantages or signs of wealth show that the person can pay a lawyer (art. 508/13/3). The proof should not be older than two months before the request is sent, in the OVB's practice.

The thresholds and the deduction per dependant

The tool compares the net monthly means with the thresholds of the application date. A person living alone uses the single thresholds; a person with a dependant or who cohabits uses the household thresholds. Full aid needs means below the first threshold; partial aid, means between the two thresholds.

PeriodSingle: full belowSingle: partial up toHousehold: full belowHousehold: partial up to
From 01/09/2026€1,670€1,988€1,988€2,305
01/09/2025 to 31/08/2026€1,612€1,920€1,920€2,226
01/09/2024 to 31/08/2025€1,582€1,884€1,884€2,184

Since 1 September 2024, the thresholds are indexed every year on the consumer price index of July and rounded up to the euro (art. 508/13/4).

For a household, 20 % of the integration income (family rate) is deducted for each dependant: €369.58 from 1 September 2026. The amount follows the integration income and may change during the year (€362.31 from 1 March to 31 August 2026). Both bar authorities count as a dependant every member of the household except the applicant, with or without income: the partner counts, and their income is added. With a conflict of interests with the spouse, the applicant is treated as single.

Counted are, among others, net professional income, replacement income (daily amount × 26), rents and movable income, and maintenance received. Not counted are family allowances, the sole own home and occasional help from a third party. Maintenance paid and exceptional debt charges are deducted.

The client's contribution and court costs

With partial aid, the client pays a contribution equal to their means minus the full-aid threshold, between €25 and €125 per designation (art. 508/13/2). The legal aid office sets it; the lawyer may wait until it is paid before starting, unless they waive it or grant time (art. 508/17, § 3). The flat contribution per proceeding introduced in 2016 was annulled by the Constitutional Court (judgment 77/2018).

The beneficiary does not pay the contribution to the legal aid fund and may ask for judicial assistance for court costs (art. 667).

The request, urgency and appeal

  • The request is oral or written, with all the proof (art. 508/14).
  • In an urgent case, the legal aid office may grant the aid provisionally; the proof follows within the deadline it sets, at most 15 days.
  • The legal aid office decides within 15 days; a refusal is reasoned and may be appealed before the labour court within one month (arts. 508/15 and 508/16). A grant of partial aid counts as a refusal of full aid.
  • Ask for the designation before working: since 1 January 2025, services more than one month before the request was sent are not paid.

Points, their value and the payments

The lawyer files the final report with the proof; the legal aid office awards the points under the nomenclature of the ministerial decree of 26 July 2024. Since the royal decree of 21 February 2024, a point is worth €90.36, adapted every 1 February to the smoothed health index of September of the previous year: €93.97 in 2024, €97.37 in 2025 and €99.47 in 2026. A travel point is worth €50.

The bar authorities send the points to the minister on 1 February and, if credits allow, on 1 July. At the OVB, a file closed by 15 July goes into the next 1 February list, and a file closed by 31 December into the next 1 July list. In 2025, the 1 February list was paid in two tranches (€68.35 then €29.02 per point); in 2026, it was paid at once on 3 June. The pro deo point value tool gives the history, the calendar and an estimate of your payment.

Open points

  • The text does not say whether means equal to the upper threshold still give partial aid, nor whether the contribution is rounded: the tool reads the threshold as included and shows the contribution to the cent.
  • The reference date of the deduction, request or decision, is not set by the text; the tool uses the date of the application.
  • The payment dates of AVOCATS.BE were not verified; the 2027 value is not announced yet.

The tools assist the lawyer, who remains responsible for checking the applicable rule.

Sources

A drafting aid based on the sources cited. To be reviewed and adapted by the lawyer; it is neither advice nor a guarantee of compliance.