Cost fixing decision
The cost fixing decision (unofficially: KFB) is a judicial decision on the amount of the litigation costs that one litigant has to reimburse another party. It is a title suitable for enforcement ( Section 794 (1) No. 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure (ZPO)). The assessment procedure is not carried out ex officio , but only upon a (cost assessment) request (unofficially: KFA) by a party. It is regulated in §§ 103 ff. ZPO. The judicial officer is functionally responsible ( Section 21 No. 1 RPflG ).
The decision to fix costs does not make a decision about who has to bear the costs, but requires such a decision ( basic cost decision ). The purpose of the independence of the assessment procedure is to relieve the main proceedings from the often difficult question of the amount of costs to be reimbursed. Because not all costs incurred by the prevailing party are reimbursable, but only those costs that were necessary for appropriate legal prosecution or legal defense ( Section 91 ZPO). Necessary are those costs that a reasonable party had to consider necessary for effective legal prosecution at the time when these costs were caused.
The fixing of costs does not concern the question of which court costs the parties have to bear. The decision is made ex officio ( cost estimate according to § 19 GKG ). In the cost fixing procedure , court costs can only play a role insofar as a party can demand reimbursement of the advances it has paid towards court costs, insofar as the court costs are to be borne by the opponent according to the basic cost decision.
