Legal aid in Belgium: free advice, pro deo lawyers and legal insurance

The cost of a lawyer stops many people before they have even asked a question. In Belgium there are three routes that can lower that cost, sometimes to nothing, and they are worth checking in this order.

First-line legal aid: a free first answer

First-line legal aid (juridische eerstelijnsbijstand / aide juridique de première ligne) is a short consultation that gives you practical information, a first legal opinion, or a referral to the right service or professional. It is free and open to everyone, whatever your income.

It is organised by the communities. In Flanders, regional commissions for legal aid run sessions in places such as justice houses, OCMW/CPAS offices, welfare centres and community centres, and the Flemish bar runs a free legal helpline. In Brussels and Wallonia, legal aid commissions and the bars organise similar free sessions. The bar websites, advocaat.be and avocats.be, list where and when.

First-line aid is meant for orientation. It will tell you where you stand and what to do next, but it will not write your letters or take your case to court.

Second-line legal aid: a pro deo lawyer

When you need a lawyer to give detailed advice, negotiate or represent you in a procedure, second-line legal aid (juridische tweedelijnsbijstand / aide juridique de deuxième ligne), still widely called pro deo, can make that lawyer fully or partly free.

Whether you qualify depends mainly on your net monthly income and your household situation: there is one threshold for full aid and a higher one for partial aid, with an allowance for each dependant. Since 2024 the thresholds are indexed every year on 1 September, so any figure quoted in an older article is probably out of date. The current amounts are on the advocaat.be legal aid page and on the site of your local bar.

If you qualify for partial aid, you pay your lawyer a limited contribution, between 25 and 125 euros, and the rest is covered.

The legal aid office of the bar

Second-line aid runs through the Bureau for Legal Aid (Bureau voor Juridische Bijstand, BJB / Bureau d'aide juridique, BAJ) of each local bar. You can go to the office directly and ask for a lawyer to be appointed, or you can ask a lawyer you have chosen whether they will take your case under legal aid; the lawyer then makes the request.

Bring proof of your income and of your household composition. The office decides on the application, and a lawyer is appointed only from those who have signed up to do legal aid work.

Legal aid covers the lawyer. Some other procedural costs, such as bailiff or expert fees, fall under a separate scheme that is asked for from the court; the lawyer appointed will tell you whether it applies.

Legal expenses insurance

Before assuming the cost is yours, look at your insurance. Legal expenses cover (rechtsbijstandsverzekering / assurance protection juridique) is sold as a separate policy and is also often included, with a narrower scope, in car, home or family policies. People are frequently insured for exactly the dispute they are worried about and never check.

Read what the policy covers, the ceiling per case, any waiting period, and the exclusions. Call the insurer before you incur costs, because many policies require you to declare the claim first.

The tax reduction has ended

From 2019 there was a federal tax reduction for premiums paid on certain stand-alone legal expenses policies. It has been abolished: premiums paid from 2025 onward no longer give a tax reduction, under the Federal Public Service Finance's administrative circular 2026/C/8. A policy can still be worth having; it simply no longer brings a tax benefit.

In short

Start with free first-line advice. If you need a lawyer and your income is modest, ask the bar's legal aid office about pro deo. And whatever your income, check your insurance policies before you pay for anything.

This page is general information about how these matters usually work in Belgium. It is not legal advice about your own case, and only a lawyer who has read your documents can give you that.