Filing Fees
The Legal Aid Fund, which benefits the charitable public purpose of providing financial assistance to legal aid societies that operate within the state, includes proceeds from the $25 filing fee surcharge ($10 on small claims) on new civil actions and proceedings in Ohio municipal courts, county courts, and courts of common pleas. These fee schedules may be found in O.R.C. 1901.26, 1907.24, and 2303.201.
In 2005, approximately $9 million was generated from a filing fee surcharge on new civil actions and proceedings in municipal courts, courts of common pleas, and county courts in Ohio.
The state's 2006-2007 biennial budget signed by Governor Taft at the end of July included an increase in the legal aid filing fee surcharge.
The most significant change to the legal aid surcharge is:
An increase from $15 to $26 on civil filings and from $7 to $11 for small claims filings; $1 or 4% of the new surcharge will be set aside by the Treasurer of State to support the state public defender's office.
All courts are required to remit collections on or before the twentieth day of the month following the month the surcharge was collected; For example, if the surcharge was collected in October, then the surcharge must be remitted to the Treasurer of State by the 20th of November
For probate courts, the legal aid surcharge now applies to decedent estate proceedings, as well as name change, guardianship, and adoption proceedings.
The effective date for these changes is October 1, 2005.
Unlike past changes to the legal aid surcharge, there is no "sunset" provision - these changes are permanent law.
For your information and use, please use this checklist to ensure that your court is properly collecting and remitting this surcharge to the treasurer of state.
Background
In response to the startling results of a 1991 statewide assessment that revealed that only 17 percent of the civil legal needs of Ohio's poor receive attention, the Ohio General Assembly increased a surcharge on civil filing fees to support the work of Ohio's legal aid societies.
The increases were $11 on most civil case filings, with the exception of domestic relations and probate cases, and $7 for small claims filings.
The increase contained a five-year sunset provision. The sunset provision was extended by five years in 1997. The sunset provision was included in hopes that the General Assembly would decide to use General Revenue Funds to support Ohio's civil legal services programs. Multiple unsuccessful efforts were undertaken to garner GRF monies for Ohio's legal aid societies. It was the recognition of the unlikelihood of obtaining GRF monies that OLAF requested that the sunset language be removed and that the filing fee surcharge be recognized as a more permanent and stable long-term source of funds for Ohio's legal aid societies.
The Ohio General Assembly made permanent, during its 2003 budget deliberations (see H.R. 94, 124th Leg.), an existing filing fee surcharge on new civil actions and proceedings. Under this enactment, all municipal courts, courts of common pleas, and county courts must collect the sum of fifteen dollars on each new civil action or proceeding; and each county court and municipal court must collect in their small claims division the sum of seven dollars on each new civil action or proceeding. These fee schedules may be found in O.R.C. 1901.26, 1907.24, and 2303.201. Clerk of courts remit each month all fees collected and transmit to the treasurer of state for deposit in the legal aid fund.
OLAF maintains a Historical Summary of Funding Allocations for Legal Services in Ohio, which includes a summary of filing fee surcharge revenues and the evolution of the filing fee surcharge in Ohio.