Texas Judicial

Branch

Publications

Civil Filing Fees and Civil Suits & Actions in Justice Courts 

Current Documents

Documents Effective 1/1/2024

Historical Documents

The Justice Court Civil Filing Fees document details the filing fees that may be assessed by county clerks in civil suits in justice courts. The list details the following seven characteristics of each of the fees:

  1. name
  2. source (i.e.,statutory authority)
  3. amount
  4. statewide (i.e., is the fee applicable statewide or only in certain counties)
  5. applicability (i.e., is the fee applicable in all civil suits or only in certain suits)
  6. local option (i.e., is the assessment of the fee and/or the amount of the fee dictated by a county commissioners court or other local actor)
  7. destination (i.e., the entity that receives the fee and/or the purpose for which the fee money may be spent)
  8. Not all of the fees will be assessed in any given case. Some of the fees are applicable only in certain types of suits and in certain counties.

The schedules of Justice Court Civil Suits and Actions have been prepared as an aid in determining the filing fees that should be assessed in a particular type of civil suit or action. The schedule sets forth each type of civil suit or action that has a unique set of filing fees.

Please note that most civil suits will be classified as "Civil Suits (General)." In other words, there will be no listing for tort suits, contract suits, etc. The filing fees will be the same in all of these suits. Therefore, there is no need to list these suits separately. Suits are listed separately if the fees for filing the suits differ from the filing fees for civil suits generally. Accordingly, eviction proceedings (for example) are listed separately because the filing fees differ from the filing fees in general civil suits.

The schedule shows a fee range for every type of suit. The actual total filing fee for a certain type of civil suit in a particular county depends on decisions that are made by local government actors such as the county commissioners court or the county clerk.

The Office of Court Administration welcomes your questions on civil filing fees. Please feel free to contact:

Office of Court Administration
(512) 463-1625, or by email at OCA-legal@txcourts.gov