Terms of Service

Avocat20min is a technical platform connecting a client with an independent lawyer admitted to a Belgian bar for an anonymised phone consultation of up to 20 minutes. Avocat20min provides no legal services itself: liability for the advice given lies with the lawyer.

Use of the Site and the platform implies full acceptance of these terms. The contract is formed between the Customer and Avocat20min upon validated payment and the mandatory ticking of the boxes accepting the terms and requesting immediate performance. A copy of the contract (terms and order confirmation) is sent to the Customer by email.

The service is reserved for natural persons of legal age (18 years or older) and legal entities represented by a duly authorised person. The Customer warrants the accuracy of the information provided.

The Customer undertakes to: (i) be available within the announced callback window; (ii) treat the lawyer with courtesy and refrain from any abusive, unlawful or discriminatory remarks; (iii) not use the service for fraudulent, unlawful or public-order-violating purposes. In case of breach, Avocat20min may suspend access or close the account without notice and retain, as flat-rate compensation, the intake fees already captured.

The intake fee is set at €20 incl. VAT by default. It is collected by Avocat20min in consideration of the organisation, security and phone matching with a lawyer. It does not cover the lawyer's professional fees nor any subsequent legal services.

In accordance with the ethical rules applicable to lawyers admitted to a Belgian bar — in particular the prohibition on solicitation, the principle of independence and the prohibition on fee sharing — there is no fee sharing between Avocat20min and the network lawyers. The lawyers receive no part of these intake fees and are not paid by Avocat20min for the first phone call.

• The amount is authorised on your payment method when the request is created (Stripe, manual capture) and only captured after the actual call with a lawyer.
• If no lawyer takes your call within 30 minutes, Avocat20min commits to calling you back as soon as a lawyer becomes free and at the latest within 24 hours. If no match is established within that 24-hour window, the authorisation is released — no charge is made and you are fully refunded.
• The lawyer is not paid by Avocat20min for this call.

Avocat20min does not perform automatic conflict-of-interest screening. The lawyer themselves checks for any conflict of interest during the call or when opening a follow-up file, in accordance with their bar's rules. If the lawyer identifies a conflict, they will tell you without delay and either refer you to a colleague or end the call; they undertake not to exploit the information received and to treat it as covered by professional secrecy.

The Customer is informed that the consultation, even when limited to orientation advice, may prevent the consulted lawyer from accepting a future case involving the same opposing party — the lawyer will recuse themselves in that case, and the Customer cannot invoke that recusal to refuse the service rendered.

The call goes through a secure phone bridge. Your private number is never exposed to the lawyer; the lawyer's private number is never exposed to you. The conference is capped at 20 minutes.

Every lawyer in the network has signed the network's ethical commitment and remains bound by their bar's rules. There is no employment relationship between Avocat20min and the network lawyers; the lawyers act in full independence.

The network lawyers participate on a voluntary basis. The orientation advice they give during the first phone call is voluntary and free of charge: it gives rise to no remuneration paid by Avocat20min, nor to any billing between the lawyer and the Customer for that call. If, after the first call, the Customer wishes to receive follow-up or to open a case, the contractual relationship continues directly between the Customer and the lawyer, at the firm, at fees freely agreed between them (see §8).

The advice given during the call engages exclusively the professional liability of the lawyer, not Avocat20min.

If, after the first call, you decide to open a full file or to continue the collaboration with the lawyer, the contractual relationship continues directly between you and the lawyer, in their firm, at freely agreed fees. Avocat20min no longer intervenes from that point and does not collect any commission on those fees.

The processing of personal data is governed by our Privacy Policy. No written summary is drafted by the lawyer on the platform as part of this initial intake matching.

Avocat20min commits to providing the service with diligence but does not guarantee either the availability of a lawyer within the time window (an automatic refund applies if not), or the legal outcome of a consultation.

The service is a technical referral service: it does not replace an in-office consultation, does not constitute formal legal advice and has no effect on any legal deadline (limitation, forfeiture, appeal periods, etc.). The Customer remains solely responsible for the follow-up and the observance of such deadlines.

Subject to mandatory provisions of Belgian law — in particular consumer-protection rules — Avocat20min's liability is capped at the amount of the intake fee collected for the relevant consultation. To the extent permitted by law, are excluded: indirect damages, loss of chance, lost opportunity, lost profits, or consequences of the expiry of any legal deadline.

Neither party may be held liable for any failure to perform its obligations resulting from a force majeure event within the meaning of Belgian case law (notably: general failure of telephone operators, failure of an essential provider beyond control, governmental measure, natural disaster, armed conflict, pandemic). If a force majeure event makes performance of the service impossible within 24 hours, Avocat20min proceeds with a full refund of the intake fees.

Avocat20min may update the service, the price and these terms. Any material change is notified by email at least 15 days before it takes effect.

The platform allows users to publish certain content: the case description written by the Customer, the note written by the lawyer and the lawyer's public biography. The user undertakes not to publish any content that is unlawful, insulting, hateful, harassing, defamatory, sexually explicit, violent or threatening, nor any content infringing the rights of a third party.

Avocat20min applies a zero-tolerance policy: no objectionable content and no abusive behaviour is tolerated on the platform, without exception.

A reporting mechanism is available in the application: any user may report content or behaviour they consider inappropriate. Any user may also block another user, which prevents any further matching between them.

Avocat20min undertakes to review every report within 24 hours of receipt. Content found to be objectionable is removed, and the author of that content or of the abusive behaviour may have their account suspended or be permanently excluded from the platform, without notice and without refund of intake fees already captured, and without prejudice to any civil or criminal proceedings.

You may close your account at any time from your personal area or by writing to info@espero-soft.com. Closure entails deletion of associated data, subject to retention periods imposed by law or professional ethics.

Avocat20min may suspend access to the service or close an account in case of serious breach of these terms, abusive use, non-payment, conduct harming a lawyer or another user, or upon request from a competent authority. Any consultation in performance at the time of suspension is treated according to the rules on intake fee refunds.

In accordance with Article VI.53, 13° of the Belgian Code of Economic Law, since the Avocat20min service is fully performed immediately after payment (matching, callback within 30 minutes or, failing that, within 24 hours guaranteed), the consumer Customer acknowledges, via the mandatory checkbox displayed during payment, that they expressly request immediate performance of the service and consequently lose their fourteen (14)-day right of withdrawal once the service is fully performed. The timestamp, IP address, locale and the exact text shown are kept as proof.

Customers acting in a professional capacity (B2B) do not benefit from the right of withdrawal provided by consumer law.

Any complaint must be addressed to info@espero-soft.com with a precise description of the issue. Avocat20min commits to acknowledging receipt within 5 business days and proposing a reasoned response within 30 days.

Failing an amicable resolution, the consumer Customer may free of charge refer the matter to the Consumer Mediation Service (FPS Economy), Boulevard du Roi Albert II 8, 1000 Brussels, contact@mediationconsommateur.be, www.mediationconsommateur.be. The European ODR platform was discontinued on 20 July 2025; the list of national alternative dispute resolution bodies is available at https://consumer-redress.ec.europa.eu/dispute-resolution-bodies_en.

These terms, together with the Privacy Policy and the Cookies Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and Avocat20min concerning the service. If any provision is held invalid by a competent court, the remaining provisions remain in full force.

Save for mandatory legal provisions, all communications relating to your order, your account or these terms shall take place electronically at the email address you provided. It is your responsibility to keep it up to date.

These terms are governed by Belgian law. Any dispute falls under the jurisdiction of the courts of the editor's registered office. Questions? info@espero-soft.com.