Civil litigation in Portugal carries a taxa de justiçaPortugal's court fee — the mandatory charge payable to the State to file or proceed with a case, fixed by the Regulamento das Custas Processuais (DL 34/2008). Each fee is a multiple of the unidade de conta, read off the RCP value tables (Tabela I/II). It is a court cost, not a lawyer fee — Portugal has no statutory lawyer tariff.Glossary → — the mandatory court fee fixed by the Regulamento das Custas Processuais (RCP, Decreto-Lei n.º 34/2008). For an ordinary money action the fee is a value-banded multiple of the unidade de contaThe reference unit (UC) in which Portuguese court fees are expressed — fixed at €102 for 2026 by Lei n.º 73-A/2025, art. 242.º. Every taxa de justiça in the Regulamento das Custas Processuais is a multiple of the UC (for example 7 UC = €714), so a single value scales the whole fee table.Glossary → (1 UC = €102 for 2026) read off Tabela I-A (art. 6.º n.º 1): from 1 UC (≤ €2.000) up to 16 UC at €275.000, with art. 6.º n.º 7 adding +3 UC for each further €25.000. Two procedures break from that ladder: the domestic injunção (payment order) uses the much flatter Tabela II, and a non-quantifiable declaratory action uses the reduced Tabela I-B at the statutory indeterminate value. These are court fees only — Portugal has no statutory lawyer tariff, so advogados’ honorários are agreed privately.
Patrimonial monetary claim (general civil)
The headline Portuguese civil case: an ação declarativa comum evaluable in money, where the claimant asks the court to order payment or recognise a patrimonial right.
You file it whenever a quantifiable dispute cannot be resolved out of court — a debt, damages, a contractual sum — pleading the value of the action (valor da causa), which drives the fee.
State court fee — art. 6.º n.º 1 + Tabela I-A. Value-banded: 1 UC (€102) up to €2.000, rising to 16 UC (€1.632) at €275.000, then +3 UC per €25.000 above (art. 6.º n.º 7). For example, a €50.000 action is band 7 = 7 UC = €714; the calculator returns the exact figure for the value entered.
Standard civil claim
A standard civil claim — the same ação declarativa comum as above, retained as a separate catalogue entry for cross-country comparability.
You file it for an ordinary contested civil matter brought in the common declarative form; the fee mechanics are identical to the patrimonial claim.
State court fee — art. 6.º n.º 1 + Tabela I-A. The same value-banded UC scale as the patrimonial claim — 1 UC at the bottom, 16 UC at €275.000, +3 UC per €25.000 above. The calculator returns the exact figure for the value entered.
Payment order (injunção)
The domestic injunção — a fast-track procedure to obtain an enforceable title for an unpaid, undisputed sum without a full trial.
You file it through the Balcão Nacional de Injunções when a debtor simply has not paid and is not expected to contest; if the debtor opposes, the matter converts to an ordinary action.
State court fee — art. 7.º n.º 4 + Tabela II. A much flatter scale than the ordinary ladder, capped at 1,5 UC: 0,5 UC (€51) up to €5.000, 1 UC (€102) up to €15.000, 1,5 UC (€153) above. At €100.000 the injunção is €153 — where an ordinary action would be €816.
Small claim
A low-value action — ação de pequeno montante — handled in a simplified form but still charged on the ordinary Tabela I-A scale at its low end.
You file it for a small quantifiable dispute; Portugal does not levy a separate small-claims filing fee, so the value falls in the first one or two Tabela I-A bands.
State court fee — art. 6.º n.º 1 + Tabela I-A. The low bands of the ordinary scale — 1 UC (€102) up to €2.000, 2 UC (€204) from €2.000,01 to €8.000. The calculator returns the band that matches the value entered.
Eviction (despejo)
An eviction action — ação de despejo — to recover possession of a leased property, typically for unpaid rent or end of term.
You file it as a landlord seeking to terminate a lease and recover the premises; the action is valued by the rent/lease sum pleaded.
State court fee — art. 6.º n.º 1 + Tabela I-A. The ordinary value-banded scale applied to the action value (no special despejo fee in the RCP). For low-value leases this falls in the first one or two bands (€102 / €204).
Declaratory action — non-monetary right
A non-patrimonial or non-quantifiable declaratory action — ação declarativa não-patrimonial — where the court is asked to declare the existence or content of a right that cannot be put in money.
You file it when the remedy is a declaration rather than a sum; because the value is not quantifiable, the RCP applies a statutory default.
State court fee — art. 12.º n.º 1 + Tabela I-B. A non-quantifiable action takes the statutory indeterminate value (€30.000,01 → band 6) and is charged on the reduced column B — 3 UC = €306. It does not use the column-A figure.
These are the mandatory court fees (taxa de justiça) for civil actions in Portugal, fixed by the Regulamento das Custas Processuais as multiples of the unidade de conta (1 UC = €102 for 2026) — exact statutory amounts, not reference valuesA tariff figure that is advisory, not mandatory — a guide to what a fee customarily is, which the lawyer and client remain free to depart from. Every number Tarifo shows is a reference value.Glossary →, and not lawyer fees. Portugal has no statutory lawyer tariff. A litigant with insufficient means may qualify for apoio judiciárioPortuguese legal aid (Lei n.º 34/2004) — a means-tested benefit that can waive or reduce the taxa de justiça, and cover other costs, for a litigant with insufficient means.Glossary → (legal aid) under Lei n.º 34/2004. See the methodology page for the full encoding rules.