Resolving a Dispute Through the Julgados de Paz in Portugal in 2026 — A Practical Guide to the Small-Claims Peace Courts, the €15,000 Limit, the €70 Fee, Mediation and When You Do Not Need a Lawyer

Sooner or later, life in Portugal produces a dispute too big to shrug off but too small to justify a lawyer, a court fee and two years of waiting: a landlord who will not return your caução (deposit), a builder who took the money and left the job half-done, a neighbour whose works flooded your garage, a €900 sofa that arrived broken and a shop that will not refund it. For exactly these everyday civil quarrels, Portugal runs a parallel, deliberately simpler court system that most foreign residents have never heard of: the Julgados de Paz (literally "Peace Courts", the Portuguese equivalent of small-claims or justice-of-the-peace courts).

They are cheaper, faster and less formal than the ordinary tribunais judiciais (judicial courts), you can usually run your own case without a lawyer, and the decision carries the same legal weight as a first-instance court judgment. This is a practical 2026 guide to what they can and cannot do, what it costs, and how a case actually runs.

What is a Julgado de Paz?

The Julgados de Paz are official courts, created under Lei 78/2001 and since amended, but built around a different philosophy from the ordinary courts. Proceedings emphasise simplicity, orality and, above all, mediação (mediation): the system is designed to get the two sides talking and, ideally, to a voluntary agreement, before it imposes a decision. Cases are decided by a juiz de paz (justice of the peace), a qualified judge specific to this system. They do not cover the whole country — they operate in participating municipalities — but the network has grown steadily, and you can look up the nearest one and even file online through the state's RAL+ platform.

What they can hear — and the €15,000 ceiling

A Julgado de Paz can hear declaratory civil actions (claims asking it to declare a right or order someone to do or pay something) where the value at stake does not exceed €15,000. Within that limit, their competence covers a broad slice of ordinary life:

• Enforcing obligations — making someone deliver, do or pay what a contract requires (with one carve-out, below).
• Delivery of movable property — recovering goods that are yours.
• Condominium disputes — disagreements over the upkeep of the building and shared despesas comuns (common expenses). If you own an apartment, this is where many condomínio rows can land.
• Neighbour and property disputes — boundaries, rights of way, and other frictions between adjoining owners, plus ações possessórias (possession claims) and usufruct.
• Urban tenancy — landlord-and-tenant matters, except eviction. Deposit and repair disputes fit here; removing a tenant does not.
• Civil liability — both contractual and non-contractual (responsabilidade civil contratual e extracontratual), meaning claims for compensation when someone's breach or fault causes you loss.
• Consumer and contract non-performance — a service not delivered, a defective purchase, a job not finished (excluding employment and rural-tenancy contracts).

One important exclusion inside their remit: they cannot be used to chase a plain money debt arising from a contrato de adesão (standard-form adhesion contract) — the mass-market small print of utilities, telecoms and the like — which the law routes elsewhere.

What they cannot touch

Some whole areas of law are off the table regardless of value. A Julgado de Paz cannot hear:

• Family law — divorce, custody and the rest go to the ordinary courts and conservatórias; if your dispute is a marriage breakdown, see our guide to getting divorced in Portugal.
• Succession and inheritance — estates are not their business.
• Labour disputes — employment claims have their own tribunais do trabalho (labour courts) and the ACT.
• Criminal matters — with a narrow exception: they may handle the civil-compensation side of a minor offence where no criminal complaint was filed, or it was withdrawn.
• Anything over €15,000 — above the ceiling, you are back in the ordinary court system.

What it costs

This is where the Julgados de Paz stand apart. There is a single flat fee — the taxa única de justiça — of €70 for the whole proceeding, regardless of how much you are claiming (up to the ceiling). As a rule the losing party pays it. If the two sides reach an agreement during the mediation stage, the fee drops to €50, split between them. Compared with the sliding-scale court fees and lawyers' bills of the ordinary system, that is a rounding error — which is much of the point.

How a case runs

1. You file a requerimento (petition). It can be submitted in writing or even orally at the court's registry, by post (CTT), by email or through the online RAL+ platform. You set out who you are suing, for what, and why.
2. The other side is notified and can respond.
3. Mediation comes first. Where suitable, a trained mediador (mediator) helps both parties try to reach their own agreement. Settle here and you get the reduced fee and no imposed judgment.
4. The judge attempts conciliation. If mediation does not resolve it, the juiz de paz makes a further push to reconcile the parties.
5. Hearing and judgment. Failing agreement, the case goes to an audiência de julgamento (trial hearing) — informal by court standards — and the judge issues a binding sentença (judgment).

Do you need a lawyer?

As a general rule, no — representing yourself is expected, and it is a large part of why the system exists. There are exceptions: legal representation is required for parties who cannot read or write or who do not speak Portuguese, and for anyone who wants to appeal. If you are not comfortable in Portuguese, budget for a lawyer or at least an interpreter, because the proceedings are conducted in Portuguese.

Is the decision final?

A Julgado de Paz judgment has exactly the same legal value as a sentença from a first-instance judicial court — it is enforceable in the same way. You can only appeal it to the competent tribunal de comarca (district court) where the value of the case exceeds €2,500.01 (half the first-instance court's alçada, or jurisdictional threshold). Below that figure, the peace court's decision is the end of the road.

What This Means for You

• Deposit and repair fights are a natural fit: A withheld rental deposit or an unfinished paid-for job sits squarely within the €15,000 civil remit — and a €70 fee makes pursuing it worthwhile where a lawyer would not.
• Check coverage before you count on it: Julgados de Paz operate in participating municipalities, not everywhere. Look up the nearest court (the DGPJ's directory and the RAL+ platform list them) before you plan your case.
• Mediation is a feature, not a delay: Going in willing to settle can end the matter faster, cheaper (€50) and on terms you help shape, rather than ones a judge imposes.
• Mind the exclusions: Family, inheritance, labour and adhesion-contract debts are out. For consumer gripes you can also use the Livro de Reclamações and sector arbitration centres, which run alongside this route.
• Language is the real barrier: Proceedings are in Portuguese, and non-speakers must be represented. Line up a lawyer or interpreter early if that is you.

For the small, maddening disputes that a full court case would only make more expensive, the Julgados de Paz are one of the more genuinely useful corners of the Portuguese system — quietly designed for ordinary people to use on their own. Knowing they exist, and what they will and will not take on, turns a €900 problem from something you write off into something you can actually pursue.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. The competence, procedure and fees of the Julgados de Paz depend on your specific dispute and on the court serving your area; consult the Direção-Geral da Política de Justiça (DGPJ) resources, the RAL+ platform or a Portuguese lawyer before you file.