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Court Filing Fee Estimator
Choose a state and a case type, and this estimator returns the filing fee this site already publishes for that combination — nothing calculated from a formula, nothing averaged, and nothing estimated from another state's schedule. Every result links straight to the guide the figure came from, so you can read the official schedule behind it before you go to the clerk's window.
Estimate your filing fee
Pick a state, then a case type. If a combination is not published on this site, the estimator says so instead of filling the gap.
How this estimator works — and what it refuses to do
Most fee calculators on the internet work backwards from a national average, then present the result as if it were your court's price. Court filing fees do not work that way. A filing fee is a line on a specific schedule: a state statute, a statewide civil fee schedule, a county clerk's published list, or, for bankruptcy, the federal Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule. Change the court and the same case can cost a different amount, sometimes by hundreds of dollars. California charges $435 for the first paper in an unlimited civil case and for a divorce petition, while South Dakota charges $72 for a general civil filing and $97 for a divorce. Both figures are correct — for their own courts.
So this estimator is a lookup, not a model. Its data is the fee data already published in this site's state guides and procedure guides, extracted combination by combination. If a state publishes one statewide figure, that is what you see. If the total is set county by county — as it is in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia — the result is a named county example taken from that state's guide, labelled as a county example, so you can see the shape of the price without mistaking it for a statewide promise. And where this site could not verify a fee from an official source, the estimator returns no number at all. Expungement is the clearest case: the expungement guide explains that no verified statewide fee table could be built from official sources, so the estimator will not invent one. It tells you the one published fact that matters — automatic clean-slate clearing, where it covers your record, costs $0 and needs no petition — and sends you to the clerk for the rest.
Two case types behave differently from the others, and the estimator treats them differently on purpose. Bankruptcy is federal, so the Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 fees are identical in every state: pick any state and you will get the same $338 or $313, with the components shown. A fee waiver is not really a fee at all — it is the absence of one. The result therefore shows $0 if granted, and explains the limits, because a waiver is a decision a court makes about your finances, not a price on a schedule.
Worked example 1: an eviction in Florida, added up line by line
Florida is the most useful worked example on this site because its eviction guide publishes every line of the stack, including the parts that are not the filing fee. The filing fee for removal of a tenant is a statutory statewide $185. The clerk charges $10 to issue each summons, so one tenant means one summons. Add those first: $185 + $10 = $195. In Miami-Dade, the sheriff charges $40 to serve that summons: $195 + $40 = $235. If the case runs all the way to a writ of possession, the Miami-Dade Sheriff charges $115 to execute it: $235 + $115 = $350. That $350 total is the same total the Florida eviction guide itself publishes for one tenant through the writ — the arithmetic here adds nothing new, it simply shows its working, which is what an estimator should do.
| Item — Florida eviction, one tenant, through the writ (Miami-Dade) | Cost |
|---|---|
| Florida eviction filing fee (statewide) | $185 |
| Issuing one summons | +$10 |
| Running total | $185 + $10 = $195 |
| Sheriff service of a summons (Miami-Dade) | +$40 |
| Running total | $195 + $40 = $235 |
| Writ of possession execution (Miami-Dade Sheriff) | +$115 |
| Total, one tenant, through the writ | $235 + $115 = $350 |
Source: Florida eviction filing costs. Note what the example proves about every filing: the court fee was $185 of a $350 day. The other $165 was summons, service and enforcement — real money, charged by the clerk and the sheriff rather than invented by a calculator, and different in every county.
Worked example 2: a divorce filing in Texas
Texas publishes its district court fees as a consolidated structure, which makes the arithmetic visible in a different way. The divorce filing fee is a $213 Local Consolidated Fee plus a $137 State Consolidated Fee: $213 + $137 = $350. The Texas guide then adds the cost people most often forget — service of process, typically $50 to $100 from a private process server — to reach a total to file of $400 to $450: $350 + $50 = $400 at the low end, and $350 + $100 = $450 at the high end. The estimator above returns the $350 filing fee, because that is the court's published price; the $50 to $100 is a market cost you pay a process server or constable, and it belongs in your budget even though it never appears on a court fee schedule. Counties that add children-related fees can also push the Texas divorce total above $350, which the state guide says plainly.
What a filing fee covers — and what it never covers
A filing fee buys one thing: the court opening your case. It pays for the clerk to accept the first paper, assign a case number, and put the matter on the court's system. It does not buy service on the other party, who in most civil, divorce and eviction cases must be formally notified by a sheriff, constable or process server at your expense. It does not buy certified copies of the eventual order, which clerks price per certification. It does not buy the later steps of the case — motions, jury demands and hearing fees are separate lines on most schedules, which is why New York's $210 index number is only the start of a New York civil case. And it never buys legal advice or representation: attorney fees sit entirely outside every figure on this page.
That gap between the filing fee and the real first-week cost is the main reason people feel misled by fee information online. A page that quotes only the filing fee understates the day-one outlay; a page that quietly folds in guessed service and copy charges overstates the court's price and cannot show its sources. This estimator keeps the two apart. The result box gives you the published filing fee and its source guide; the worked examples above show how the common add-ons stack, using only figures those same guides publish, so you can rebuild the total for your own county by swapping in your sheriff's or constable's actual service fee.
Before you rely on any figure here
Fees change. Schedules are revised, statutes are amended, and county surcharges move — California's statewide schedule figure used here took effect on January 1, 2026, and Texas's consolidated structure follows a Judicial Branch chart revised in November 2025. Treat every result as the published figure to budget around, then confirm the current total with the clerk of the court where you will actually file, ideally before you travel or take time off work. If the clerk's figure differs from the one here, the clerk's figure is the one you will pay. If money is the barrier, ask the same clerk about a fee waiver at the same visit: our fee waiver guide explains how in forma pauperis applications work, and the estimator's waiver result explains why bankruptcy waivers are limited to Chapter 7.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to file a civil case?
It depends on the state and, in county-set states, on the county. Among the statewide figures published on this site, a general civil filing runs from $72 in South Dakota to $435 in California for an unlimited civil case, and a civil case in federal district court costs a flat $405. Pick your state above to see the exact published figure and the guide it came from.
How much is a divorce filing fee?
Among the statewide figures published on this site, divorce filing fees run from $97 in South Dakota to $435 in California. Texas charges $350, built as a $213 local consolidated fee plus a $137 state consolidated fee. In states such as Florida, Georgia, Illinois and Ohio the total is set by the county, so this estimator shows a verified county example instead of inventing a statewide number.
How much does it cost to file an eviction?
The published filing fees in the eviction guides range from $45 to open an unlawful detainer case in Washington and $54 in a Texas justice court, to $185 statewide in Florida and $240 for a California unlawful detainer complaint claiming up to $10,000. Service is usually charged on top: North Carolina, for example, adds $30 per defendant for sheriff's service to its $96 filing fee.
Is bankruptcy filing the same price in every state?
Yes. Bankruptcy is federal, so there is no state-by-state variation. Chapter 7 costs $338 — a $245 filing fee, a $78 administrative fee and a $15 trustee surcharge. Chapter 13 costs $313 — a $235 filing fee plus the same $78 administrative fee, with no trustee surcharge at filing.
Can a court filing fee be waived?
Yes, if the court grants a fee waiver, often called proceeding in forma pauperis. A granted waiver means the filing fee is not charged. In bankruptcy the waiver is narrower: only Chapter 7 has one, applied for on Form 103B, and it is limited to filers below 150 percent of the federal poverty guidelines who cannot pay the fee even in instalments.
Does this estimator include service of process and other add-ons?
No. The result is the filing fee itself, because that is the figure the court publishes. Service of process, certified copies, newspaper publication where a court orders it, and later motion or hearing fees are separate, and several of them are market costs rather than court fees. The worked examples on this page show how those add-ons stack on top of a real filing fee.
Related guide: Civil filing fees by state and in federal court · Divorce filing costs by state · Eviction filing costs · Bankruptcy filing fees