If a party, for valid reasons, cannot submit evidence confirming the amount of court expenses incurred by them before the end of the court debates in the case, the court, upon the application of such party submitted before the end of the court debates in the case, may decide on the issue of court expenses after the decision on the merits of the claims.
According to MP Oleksandr Yurchenko, this provision of the Civil Procedure Code should be improved. Therefore, he introduced Bill No. 13118 dated 18.03.2025 ‘On Amendments to Article 246 of the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine regarding the decision on court expenses’ to the Verkhovna Rada.
The author of the initiative referred to the conclusion of the Cassation Civil Court of the Supreme Court in case No. 285/5547/21, according to which if a party, for valid reasons, could not submit evidence confirming the amount of court expenses before the end of the court debates and submits this evidence together with the relevant application after the decision on the merits of the claims, then such party must justify the valid reasons for not submitting such evidence to the court before the end of the court debates in the case. In the absence of justification for valid reasons or their validity, the court rejects the application for the recovery of expenses.
To ensure the formation of a unified judicial practice, it is proposed to enshrine this court position in the Civil Procedure Code.
In the National Bar Association of Ukraine, where the project was developed at the request of the relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada, it was noted that the procedure for calculating the fee (fixed amount, hourly payment), grounds for changing the fee amount, payment procedure, conditions for refund, etc., are determined in the contract for legal assistance (in accordance with Article 30 of the Law ‘On Advocacy and Advocacy Activities’).
A comprehensive analysis of Articles 137, 141 of the Civil Procedure Code, which regulate the criteria for determining the amount of expenses for professional legal assistance, allows us to conclude that the decision on the allocation of expenses for professional legal assistance in essence (the amount of expenses to be reimbursed) is the court’s obligation, in particular by providing an assessment of the evidence submitted by the party using the criteria defined in the mentioned articles. And this obligation in each specific case is implemented on the principles of adversarial nature and equality of parties by giving them the opportunity to express their views. Based on the results of the assessment of the circumstances of the case and the arguments presented by the participants in the case and the examination of the evidence submitted, the court makes a decision in this regard.
The main criteria for determining and allocating court expenses are their validity, substantiation, reasonableness, and proportionality to the claim amount, taking into account the complexity and importance of the case for the parties.
In view of this, the Committee of the National Association of Advocates of Ukraine on Civil Law and Procedure noted that the introduction of statutes of limitations at the stage of determining the amount of court expenses creates additional procedural burden on the participants in the process and the court. It also gives rise to additional grounds for challenging the court decision not only in terms of the amount of expenses but also in assessing the court’s justification for missing the deadline for submitting such evidence. Therefore, it would be more acceptable to retain the provision of Article 246 of the Civil Procedure Code in its current version.