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How much does it cost to file for custody in Minnesota?

Opening a standalone custody case in Minnesota costs a $322 filing fee in the state's largest county. The Hennepin County District Court fee schedule — published by the Minnesota Judicial Branch with changes effective July 1, 2025 — prices Custody, Family Other, Paternity and Separate Maintenance filings at $322 on its Family Court list, for petitioner and respondent alike. The statutory spine underneath is Minn. Stat. §357.021, subdivision 2, clause (1): a $310 first-paper fee in every civil action or proceeding, with Hennepin's published $322 total adding the county law library fee the statute leaves to chapter 134A.

Minnesota custody fees at a glance — Hennepin County

The Family Court list groups custody with the other case types that start a family file without dissolving a marriage, and it charges the respondent the same $322 when the respondent's first paper is filed — Minnesota's fee statute is symmetrical: clause (1) collects the first-paper fee from the moving party and again from a defendant, adverse or intervening party appearing separately. Two contrasts on the same schedule are worth knowing. A dissolution — where custody is most often decided inside the divorce — costs $402 per side in Hennepin County, because clause (1) sets the dissolution first-paper fee at $340 against $310 for other civil and family filings, and the county total follows it up. And a child support case is carved out at $372 on the county list, while motions about support alone carry their own $50 motion fee under clause (13) of the statute, half the general $100 motion fee in clause (4). Domestic abuse filings carry no fee, as the schedule states expressly. The national comparison is on the child custody filing costs hub.

Which counter, which fee

A custody filing in Minnesota goes to district court, family division, and the fee follows the case type on the petition rather than the issues inside it. Unmarried parents typically arrive through a paternity or standalone custody and parenting-time action under chapter 257 or chapter 518 — both priced at the $322 line. A parent who is divorcing does not pay the custody line on top of the dissolution fee: custody is decided inside the $402 dissolution case. Grandparents and other third parties seeking custody file in the same family division on the same schedule. After the case is open, the meter runs at motion prices — $100 for a motion or response that requires a hearing date or court action, $50 where the motion is only about child support — and the statute's clause (4) confirms the $100 figure for motions in family cases, excluding child support, while clause (13) sets the $50 support-modification motion fee. One protection is built into the statute: no fee is required from the public authority, or the party it represents, in child support enforcement, parentage establishment and the other public cases listed in subdivision 1a, paragraph (c), so a county support case is not a private filer's $322 problem.

How the case runs

1. File the summons and petition for custody and parenting time in district court, family division, and pay the filing fee $322
2. Serve the other parent personally as the rules require — service is arranged and priced outside the court's fee schedule
3. The respondent's first filing carries the same fee $322
4. Work inside the case at motion prices — general motions $100, child support motions $50
5. Finish with the custody order; certified copies for schools, doctors and travel are $14 each

What custody really costs beyond the clerk

The larger money in a contested Minnesota custody case is not on the Hennepin schedule at all. Service of the summons on the other parent is charged by the sheriff or a private process server; custody evaluations and mediation are priced by the provider or set by court order case by case; a guardian ad litem, where appointed, is compensated on terms the court sets; and attorney fees are private arrangements. None of those figures is published on a statewide court schedule, so this page names them without inventing amounts — the same discipline applied on this site's Virginia custody costs, Maryland custody costs and Wisconsin custody costs pages. What a Minnesota filer can predict exactly is the court-side spine in Hennepin County: $322 to open, $322 for the other side's first filing, $100 motions, $50 support motions, $14 certified copies. The wider state picture is on the Minnesota court costs guide, and the same county's civil and juvenile counters are covered on the Minnesota name change costs and Minnesota adoption costs pages.

Can't afford the fee?

Minnesota district courts can reduce or waive court fees for a filer who cannot afford them through the in forma pauperis process under Minn. Stat. §563.01: the filer submits a sworn statement of income, assets and expenses with the opening papers, and the court decides the waiver before the case proceeds. Custody filers should also know the statutory exemptions run the other way for public cases — support enforcement and parentage actions brought by the public authority are fee-free under subdivision 1a — but a private custody petition is not exempt, so the waiver application is the route. Ask court administration for the fee waiver forms when the petition is filed. The general mechanics of fee waivers are explained in the fee waiver guide.

Sources: Hennepin County District Court, Fees (Minnesota Judicial Branch, mncourts.gov; changes effective July 1, 2025), read directly — Family Court: Custody, Family Other, Paternity, Separate Maintenance $322 (petitioner and respondent); Annulment, Child Support, Legal Separation $372; Dissolution $402; Domestic Abuse no fee; motion or response $100; child support motion $50; certified copy $14; subpoena $16 · Minn. Stat. §357.021, official text at revisor.mn.gov — subd. 2 clause (1) first-paper fee $310, dissolution $340; clause (4) motion in family cases $100; clause (13) child support modification motion $50; clause (2) certified copy $14; clause (3) subpoena $16 per name; subd. 1a(c) no fee for public-authority support and parentage cases; subd. 4 library fees under ch. 134A unaffected · Minnesota Judicial Branch, District Court Fees guidance (base fees exclude county law library fees). Last verified: November 2026 — confirm your county's total with court administration.