Court taxes make divorce, compensation claims and appeals against fines prohibitive

CONTROVERSIAL new taxes applying to court action could mean it costs more to appeal against a parking or traffic fine than the cost of paying for it.

And the General Council of Judges said the taxes could lead to domestic abusers getting away with their violence because their victims cannot afford to take action against them.

Certain legal action which used to be free of charge to take will now attract prohibitive fees.

Appealing against a traffic fine will cost 200 euros, when most fines for 'regular' offences are about half of this.

Divorce proceedings – even where there is no legal assistance in splitting assets – will cost 1,280 euros, although child custody and paternity cases will continue to be free of charge.

Claims for medical negligence involving childbirth could cost around 11,000 euros, and a pensioner suing a bank for loss of his or her savings due to poor fund management could cost around 940 euros.

Next of kin suing an airline following the death of a passenger in an accident will cost 5,300 euros in taxes, even though the flight company is obliged to pay a million euros automatically.

Dividing up a house owned by two separate parties will cost 600 euros per 100,000 euros of the value of the property – 1,800 euros for a typical 300,000-euro villa.

Traffic accident victims have to pay 300 euros plus 0.5 per cent of the amount of compensation claimed, and the same again to take the case to a higher court.

Spain's Observatory for Domestic Violence say battered wives or husbands may be unable to escape their abusers due to the prohibitive costs of seeking a divorce, or pursuing a case against their partner through the courts – a move which, according to the Observatory, could lead to thousands more domestic violence victims being forced to carry on living with their aggressors with no escape.

The taxes were due to apply from Thursday onwards, but will not now come into action for a few weeks.