In Costa Rica the law establishes the minimum fees that Lawyers and Notaries may chage for their services. They may charge more than the minimum fees but they are not allowed to charge below the minimum scale. In Costa Rica there are more than 25,000 licensed lawyers and 9,000 of them also practice as Notaries. In Costa Rica to be a Notary Public you must also be a licensed Atttorney. The current fee shcedule was implemented on August 13, 2015 and was approved by way of an Executive Decree number 39078-JP.
All Lawyers and Notaries are obligated by law to abide by the decree and charge for their services below the minimums set forth below.
1. General Fee Schedule for Litigation
For an Amount in Controversy of up to 16 million Colones = 20%
Excess of 16 million Colones to 82.5 million Colones = 15%
Excess of 82.5 million Colones = 10%
2. Probate Proceedings.
The Fees for probate proceedings is 50% of the general Fee Schedule set forth above and is based upon all the assets and rights which are inventoried including earnings.
3. Eviction Proceedings.
The Fee for undertaking an eviction proceeding is governed by the percentage of the general fee schedule indicate above. The Attorney is allowed to charge 50% up front and the balance when the eviction order is issued by the court.
4. Notary Fees. For all acts and contracts that are authorized by a Costa Rican Notary Public the fee schedule is based upon the actual value of the transaction involved according to the following minimum schedule.
Up to 11 million Colones = 2%
On the excess of 11million Colones and up to 16,5 Million Colones = 1.5%
On the excess of 16,5 million Colones and up to 33 million Colones = 1.25%
On the excess of 33 million Colones = 1%
5. Resident Agent fee. The resident agent fee for a corporation is 110,000 Colones ($205)
The full text of the law is set forth below in Spanish.
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