Question:  My grandmother is  68 years old, is the defendant in the case of a civil dispute over the purchase and sale of land with a disputed property value of about 3.6 billion VND, which has been tried at first instance. Now, she has appealed against the first-instance judgment to settle the case according to the appellate procedure in accordance with the law. So I want to ask: Does my grandmother have to pay an advance for the appeal? If yes, how much?

Answer:

Thank you for your question to Khoa Tin. We would like to answer your question about whether your grandmother has to pay a court fee advance for the appeal as follows:

According to the provisions of law, the appellant is obliged to pay the appellate court fee advance within the prescribed time limit. In case the appeal is well-founded, the appeal request is approved by the Appellate Trial Panel, it will be refunded; if it is not approved, it will be deducted from the part of the court fee to be paid, which is specifically recorded in the appellate judgment.

Clause 1, Article 146 of the Civil Procedure Code specifically provides as follows:

Plaintiffs and defendants who make counter-claims against the plaintiffs and persons with related interests and obligations who have independent claims in civil cases must pay first-instance court cost advances, and the appellants shall follow the procedures of the plaintiffs and defendants. The appellate procedure must pay the appellate court fee advance, except for cases where the court fee advance is exempted or not required.

Pursuant to the provisions of Article 2 of the Law on the Elderly:  Elderly people are Vietnamese citizens aged full 60 years or older. Accordingly, your grandmother is 68 years old, so she is considered an elderly person and is exempted from paying court fee and court fee advances as prescribed by law.

Resolution No. 326/2016/UBTVQH14 stipulating the rates of collection, exemption, reduction, collection, payment, management and use of court fees and charges has detailed instructions and regulations as follows:

“Article 12. Exemption from payment of court fee and court fee advances and court fee advances and court fees

1. The following cases are exempt from payment of court cost advances and fees:

a) Employees sue for wages, job loss allowances, severance allowances, social insurance, compensation for occupational accidents and diseases; settle issues of compensation for damage or illegal dismissal or termination of labor contracts;

b) The person requesting support, please identify the father or mother for the minor child, the adult child has lost his/her civil act capacity;

c) The complainant of the administrative decision or act in the application or enforcement of the measure of administrative handling of education in the commune, ward or township;

d) The claimant for life, health, honor, dignity and reputation;

e) Children; individuals belonging to poor or near-poor households; Elderly; People with disabilities; people with meritorious services to the revolution; ethnic minorities in communes with extremely difficult socio-economic conditions; Martyrs’ relatives are granted certificates of martyrs’ families by competent State agencies.

2. The cases specified at Point dd, Clause 1 of this Article are exempt from court fee advances and court fees specified in Clause 1, Article 4 of this Resolution.

3. In case the involved parties agree that one party shall bear all or part of the payable legal cost but the party shall bear the whole or part of the payable court fee amount in the case of being exempted from paying court fees. The Court shall only consider the exemption of court fees for the part that the exempted person has to bear under the provisions of this Resolution. The portion of court costs and fees that such person accepts to pay on behalf of another person shall not be exempt from payment.

Thus, your grandmother is the person who appeals the judgment but is 68 years old – she is an elderly person, so she does not need to pay a court fee advance as prescribed by law. In case the Court of Appeal, after hearing, declares that your grandmother loses the lawsuit, it will not have to pay the court fee, unless the involved parties agree on the payment of court costs.

Above is Khoa Tin‘s advice on “Do the elderly have to pay civil court fees in advance?”.

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Best regards./.