You must pay fees to start a court case, to file a motion, and sometimes to have a judgment entered in a case. If you can’t afford to pay the fees, you can ask the court to waive them.
If you can't pay filing fees, you can ask the court to waive them using a Fee Waiver Request form. Only individuals can request and get a fee waiver, not organizations. If the person who needs the waiver is under 18 or can’t sign because of a disability, someone who has personal knowledge of the facts must sign it.
Your request for a fee waiver will be nonpublic. If the clerk issues a waiver or a judge enters an order granting or denying your request, it will also be nonpublic.
The clerk of the court must automatically approve your fee waiver if any of these are true:
Public assistance is means-tested if it is based on having low income. This includes the following types of assistance:
If you do not fit into one of the three categories above, a judge will review your Fee Waiver Request. The judge must waive your fees if you show that your gross household income is under 125% of the federal poverty level. If your gross household income is over 125% of the federal poverty level, but you show that paying fees would be a financial hardship for you, the judge must also waive your fees.
Use the Do-It-Yourself Fee Waiver tool to prepare a Fee Waiver Request. Download the completed form after you finish the tool and sign it in the space provided. Make a copy for your records. If your court case is a domestic relations case (examples: divorce, custody, etc.), make another copy of the completed form for the Friend of the Court. If you are at the court when you sign the form, you can ask the clerk to make copies for you. There may be a cost to make copies.
If you file your papers in person at the court, take the Fee Waiver Request along with any legal papers you want to file. The clerk may approve your fee waiver at that time, or the fee waiver might go to a judge for review. If it goes to a judge, the judge will have three business days to decide the request.
If your court has e-filing, file your Fee Waiver Request at the same time that you e-file your other documents. If you ask for a fee waiver when you e-file, you will not have to pay any fees at the time that you file. You will get a notice after filing to tell you if your fee waiver was rejected. If your fee waiver is rejected, you must either ask for a review or pay the fees. If your fee waiver is denied and you do not do anything the case will be dismissed. Read the next section to learn about what you can do if the fee waiver is denied.
You will get an order telling you if the fee waiver is granted or denied. If the waiver was denied, you can either pay the filing fee within 14 days or request a review hearing. To request a hearing, file a Request for Review of Denied Fee Waiver within 14 days from the date the judge signed the order.
The review hearing will take place within 14 days from when you file your Request for Review of Denied Fee Waiver. On the date scheduled for the hearing, bring documents that support the information you provided in your Fee Waiver Request. The judge may ask you questions. Answer them clearly and directly.
If your Fee Waiver Request is denied and you do not either pay the fee or request a review within 14 days, your filing will be rejected.
If you get a fee waiver, you won't have to pay certain court fees required by law. Some examples are:
You must let the court know if your circumstances change and the reason for your fee waiver no longer exists. For example, if the reason your fees were waived is that you get food assistance, but your income later increases and you no longer qualify for those benefits, tell the judge what has happened.
The judge may require you to pay fees if they find the reason for the waiver no longer exists.
If you qualify to have your fees waived in a family law case, such as a divorce, the court can order your spouse to pay court fees as part of a final order or judgment.