When in need of legal assistance, expats find themselves with some basic questions:
When should I contact a lawyer? Am I entitled to Legal Aid? Do I need to have insurance for the legal costs? I will introduce you briefly to the available options.

Law firms/lawyers (Advocaten)
Lawyers are independent members of the Dutch Bar Association. They will have to bear your interest in mind at all times. What you discuss with your attorney is confidential. A lawyer can represent your legal interest in litigations or assist you reaching an out of court settlement. You can also seek their advice on your legal position to prevent legal disputes. Lawyers usually work on hourly rates or based on a fixed fee. Please bear in mind that it is forbidden for attorneys in the Netherlands to charge on a ‘no cure no pay’ basis.

Legal Aid
Based on your income, you can enquire at the Legal Aid Board (Raad voor Rechtsbijstand) whether you are eligible for Legal Aid. You can find more information on the criteria on the Board’s website: www.rvr.org. If you meet these criteria, the Board can appoint you with a lawyer who deals with legal aid cases. Depending on your income, you will have to pay a small part of the lawyer fees and the proceeding costs yourself. The government will cover the remaining part.

Legal insurance in The Netherlands
Legal insurance, as its name suggests, covers the costs of legal action by policyholders. There are many differences between what falls under the coverage of the Dutch legal insurance providers, but several basic provisions are found in most policies. Areas covered under most insurance packages are traffic accidents, consumer disputes, employment and medical issues. Some legal insurers also provide assistance in financial cases. Most Dutch legal insurances however, do not cover family law issues such as divorce, recognition or custody of children and tax related cases. Moreover, Dutch legal insurers usually choose to include a clause giving them the right not to take or halt action in cases in which there is no ‘reasonable chance of success’. Thus, in choosing a legal insurance you should inform what areas of law are covered by consulting the policy’s fine print. You could also consider which legal issues are most likely to occur in the future, based on your own situation. Lastly, it is important to realise that most packages do not offer a free choice of a lawyer.