This FAQ was created to answer your questions regarding the court fees, filing fees, convenience fees, and authorization holds.
Q: Who ultimately captures the various fees in submitted envelopes?
A: The fees a user sees in the fee breakdown in the Fees section of their drafts - including one-time fees, efiling fees, or convenience fees - are all ultimately captured by the court systems a user files into once a filing is accepted.
Please Note: Specific Filing Codes - especially codes used for initiating cases - have specific fees configured per court location. These generate some of the court fees you will see in the Fees section of your efiling draft.
For more information on efiling and convenience fees, please refer to the following articles:
- Who Captures Filing Fees?
- What are the E-filing fees for my state?
- What is the convenience payment service fee?
Q: What if there are no fees in my draft? Why do I still need to select a Payment Account?
A: A valid Payment Account must still be selected if the court needs to make any adjustments to the filing that may require fees to be paid.
For more information, please refer to the following article:
Q: Help! The court (or court website) told me I could efile for free, but I'm seeing a large fee when filing a new case!
A: Most courts charge a case initiation fee for starting a new court case. This one-time fee can range anywhere from $75 to over $350, depending on the type of case you are starting and what court you are filing into. Typically, the Case Type dropdown menu shows what fees you may need to pay; if no fees appear there, you may contact the clerks at the court you are filing into to inquire about what fees you may need to pay, or you may wait until you see the fees appear on the Fees page.
NOTE: You do not have to file if you disagree with or cannot pay the fees you see in the Fees page. If you need a fee waiver, please contact the court clerks to obtain one. Once you have one (if you are able to obtain one), the following article illustrates how to add it to your filing:
Q: Why do I see fee charges in my financial account (credit card or bank statement) before a filing is accepted?
A: What you're seeing is an authorization hold for the amount of fees owed for a successful filing that is temporarily placed on your account to ensure the money will be available if/when the filing is accepted by the court. An actual withdrawal of fees has not yet taken place.
For more information, please refer to the following article:
Q: What happens to that authorization hold if the filing is not accepted by the court, gets cancelled by the user, or errors out in a Submission Failure?
A: When one of these events occurs, the authorization hold is released in three (3) to fourteen (14) business days. The funds return to your account, though they are not posted as a refund: they are simply back in the account like they never left since the hold on the funds is released.
For more information, please refer to the following article:
Q: I can't wait three to fourteen business days! I need that authorization hold released. Is there any way I can expedite this process?
A: This may be possible through your bank or financial institution. Please refer to the following article for more information: