Belgium
Representation by an attorney (advocaat/avocat) in civil proceedings is not mandatory, so a party can decide to handle a case itself. It cannot, however, instruct any person to represent him. Except in some cases, for instance in employment-related matters (where an employee can be represented by a trade union representative), attorneys have a monopoly representing parties before the courts.
Civil proceedings are typically commenced by a writ of summons being served on the adverse party by a bailiff. The writ of summons is, at the same time, registered with the court.
In some cases, however, the proceedings can be initiated by a so-called application (verzoekschrift/requête) that is filed with the court and will be communicated by mail to the defendant (and thus not served on the defendant by a bailiff). The plaintiff and defendant could also decide to file a joint application and in that way initiate proceedings together.
Within one or two weeks, although this may vary in practice, an introductory hearing is scheduled. At that hearing several routes are possible:
- The court could render a default judgment if the defendant or, though exceptional in practice, the plaintiff does not appear.
- The case is postponed to a later hearing or postponed indefinitely, after which any party can have the proceedings reactivated.
- If the case is not complex and can be dealt with summarily, the case may be heard at the introductory hearing or a hearing shortly thereafter, with or without the parties having first exchanged written pleadings (korte debatten/débats succincts).
- The majority of cases are handled through the normal track, under which the parties are given the opportunity to set out their position in written pleadings followed by a hearing where the case will be pleaded orally. The parties usually agree on the procedural calendar with their respective deadlines to file the written pleadings and, should they fail to reach an agreement, the calendar is set by the court. On average, parties file one to three sets of written pleadings each. The length of time required to exchange pleadings is determined by the parties and varies from case to case, depending on the complexity of the case and the court's availability.
The hearing concludes the proceedings and usually takes between thirty minutes and three hours. Hearings that take several days are rather exceptional. Oral pleadings are important for explaining the position of the parties to the court and to focus on specific issues. In practice, a hearing allows the parties to emphasize what they deem to be important and offers the court the opportunity to ask questions of the parties. While the oral hearing is important, the court is only obliged to take into consideration the arguments raised in the written pleadings.
In principle, the court will render the judgment one month following the date of the oral hearing. However, this may take longer if the case is complex.
The timeframe for proceedings depends on the type of court and, since some courts are dealing with backlog, its workload. For proceedings before courts of first instance, the average duration for a fairly straightforward case that is handled through the normal track is approximately one year, although it is common to have longer timeframes for complex cases.