On their paths to justice people face different types of costs. Out-of-pocket expenses have to be made for legal and court fees, production of documents, travel to court rooms. Users of justice also waste time and other precious resources which can have alternative use. For instance every day spent in dispute resolution might be spent for earning wage or for recreational purposes. Last but not least, users of justice oftentimes have to cope with serious levels of stress and negative emotions. All these costs jointly and severally could be discouraging barriers to justice.
In order to make access to justice transparent the MA2J methodology measures three broad categories of costs:
- Out-of-pocket expenses;
- Opportunity costs;
- Intangible costs – stress, negative emotions and damage to important relationships.
